CPS Chronicles: Digital Conspiracy
by largefish8
Summary: The first adventure in Matt's epic career as a mercenary takes him to the Digital World. There he teams up with Veemon and fellow Tamers against an evil group who desire nothing less than dimensional conquest. Chap 11 ending extended
1. Chapter 1

**Digimon, Dr Kurata and digimon tamers is property of Bandai.**

**Nullspace, Matt, Exo-Gene inc and Balwak station are my property. Mark is the property of my co-author, Cydra.**

**C.P.S Chronicles: Digital Conspiracy**

**Chapter 1: 'How not to land'**

**Nullspace, Commerce Station 42**

Matt looked at the rusty looking space shuttle in front of him. The old NASA symbol was just visible…so were the scorch marks. "It's a deathtrap…" he said to the dealer next to him. "I…I can see the patches…It's be safer to walk though Nullspace," he ranted. The dealer shrugged, "Walk then…it's still gonna be 10,000 credits when you get back." Matt walked out of 'Kal'tars Discount Starships' in a foul mood. He and his sister, Chloe, had been trapped in this strange place for a fortnight now. They'd finally settled for joining some company called the C.P.S. Chloe had been sent to guard some merchant ship cargo while Matt had been hired to ferry some people to a new research station. The problem was that Matt didn't have a ship and the only cheap enough ship was the 'flying rust bucket' as he'd called it.

He walked into a bar, ordered a cola and sat, face in his hands. "Great…my first job and it's already screwed up," he said to himself. Matt drank his cola in silence as he thought of various ways to try and get out of the mess he was in. Finally the bartender announced it was closing time and Matt got up to walk out. Suddenly he walked into someone who pushed two things into his hands. "I'm sorry. Do…excuse me," said the stranger before rushing off. Matt looked at the stuff he'd been given. The first reminded him of a futuristic pager which had what was revealed to be a deck of gaming cards attached to the back. He shrugged and pocketed it and looked at the other. His hopes shot right through the roof as he unfolded a 90 off voucher for Kal'tars discount starships.

**--**

Kal'tar scrutinized the voucher as if daring it to be a fake. "It…seems to be in order…what did you have in mind?" said the dragon-like Timesplitter. Matt pointed out to another space shuttle-like ship. It was practically shining, was much more streamlined and looked like it could do anything. "That," said Matt, savouring the horrified expression on the face of the very guy who tried a few hours ago to swindle him. "I think with the 90 off, it's just 2000 credits," Matt said. A few minutes later, Matt was walking out with the start up card. He could already see some servitor droids beginning to prepare the ship, named 'Skyraid' to be moved to one of the hangers.

**The next day…**

Matt stood by his new ship as he saw his passengers arriving: three humans, an elf-like alien and a Splitter who stepped up. "I am Dr Nyvin. I take I you're our C.P.S pilot?" he asked politely. Matt nodded, "Get aboard and we'll be on our way." As the others of Dr Nyvin's team got aboard, Matt asked something that he'd been wondering. "If this is a simple ferrying…why did the contract recommend bringing weapons?" he said. Nyvin looked worried for a second then said, "Er…Pirates…there have been space pirates in the area…we don't want to be robbed do we?" and stepped past Matt.

Matt shrugged. He had several weapons stored on the storage buffer of his wrist computer in case and a few X-52 minigun rifles in the armoury. He walked in and sealed the hatch before getting into the flight seat and steering the shuttle out the station hanger and towards the glowing purple hole in space that was the wormhole. He didn't need to worry…It was just a simple passenger run…He had no idea how wrong he was.

**Unclassified Dimension**

The wormhole opened and the Skyraid shot out gracefully. "Flies like a dream," said Matt happily. He looked at the navicomp. "Now then…just past the moon and I'm there," he muttered as the ship gently flew over the lunar surface. He looked up as 'Balwak' research station came into view. "Wow," was all he could say. The station itself was huge…about 2 miles high and a mile from end to end. It looked like a thick tractor tire balanced on a thick pole. A cluster of antenna was positioned on the top and, as Matt flew by, he spotted something that puzzled him. The station had several dozen plasma auto-cannons. "Ok then," he muttered, "Not just peaceful research."

The Skyraid's comm crackled, "Skyraid. This is Balwak control. You are cleared to land at airlock 5 and to remain for 36 hours to refuel." Matt replied, "Got that, control. Docking now." He steered in slowly and breathed a sigh of relief as he docked neatly with the airlock.

**Balwak Research Outpost (Exo-Gene inc affiliated)**

Matt sat in the station canteen, surrounded by station security officers who stared suspiciously in his direction. So far, he'd found out that only his room and the canteen appeared to be non-classified, so he'd spent most of the wait there, draining the stations supply of coffee.

Finally, the stares got too much for Matt and he got up to go to the temporary quarters he'd been assigned while his ship was refuelled. When he got there, his comm was beeping away. He sat down and turned it on, saying as the caller's image shimmered into view, "I don't change jobs mid-contra…" and was interrupted by the figure, a man in a black business suit who reminded Matt heavily of the Men in Black.

"Good morning, Mr Lynch. I trust you are now on Exo-genes station," he said in a strange jerking way of speaking, like his voice was running at two different speeds. Matt sat back as the guy continued, "I represent…concerned parties who feel that the director of the station you are currently on…does not have the NSC's best…interests at heart."

Matt decided to speak, even though it was obviously a recording. "So why bother me?" he said rudely and fell off the bed in shock when the 'recording' answered, "Because you're in the right place at…the right time, Mr…Lynch." Once he was sure he was not suffering the heart attack he felt he was having, Matt asked, "So…what do you want from me? I only just started as a Mercenary…I'm only allowed to do…" and was interrupted again.

"Please be quiet before I MAKE YOU…" said the figure, the lights flickering at the last two words. Matt shut up instantly. He'd heard stories from other trainees of the 'ascended', such as how 'Slughead' Murphy had earned his nickname when he went back on a contract for an ascended. This guy could probably vaporise him with a thought if he wasn't careful…if he was lucky.

The guy paused then said, "You will infiltrate the R&D laboratory on this station tonight and download the files of their chief researcher from the central laboratory. You will not fail if you like your current species." Matt tried to back further away from the person on his comm. before saying, "And you are?" in a whimper. The guy straightened his tie and said, "Mr Black…Goodbye, Mr Lynch," before fading away. Matt sat in the gloom before muttering, "I am so screwed."

******Balwak Research Outpost (Night-cycle)**

Matt slipped out of his room in full kit, checking that there were no guards patrolling before heading towards the stations central lift. Twice he had to duck into shadowy corners to avoid an unexpected guard but eventually, the main lift came into view. Sadly a guard was there in front of the doors. "Great…hold on," He muttered, slipping back round the corner before spying a technician approaching, wheeling a trolley of equipment.

"Stupid cheap ass budget deal holo-computers," muttered the technician before folding up as Matt hit him over the head with his pistol butt and dragged him into a sideroom. A quick scan and his kit was swapped for the techie's uniform and Matt was wheeling the kit towards the lift.

Matt breathed a sigh of relief when the guard barely gave him a second glance but just as he was about to get on the lift… "Hey…where's the usual guy, Jay?" said the guard, getting up from his seat. Matt gulped and replied, "Er…Temporal Flu.", unable to shift his gaze from the guard's X-52 rifle. After what seemed like an eternity, the guard nodded "Ok…just be quick…ok?"

Matt breathed a sigh of relief as the door shut tight and he pressed the button for R&D lab 1. "Should be easy from here," he said to himself, not realising how wrong he'd be.

******Bulwak Station R&D level**

The lift opened with a cheery 'ding' and Matt peered out. At this time of night, the R&D labs were silent so Matt and put his combat gear back on. The darkened corridors put Matt in mind of Frankenstein's laboratory. He walked along, looking for the main laboratory, looking in a few of the rooms. Surprisingly, many of the labs were computer laboratories with specimen scanners in the middle.

Finally, the last lab came into view…and from the light coming from it, someone was there. Matt ducked down as he heard voices, "Ok…let's get the final data transfusion done…commencing…now!" at 'now' there was the unmistakable crackle of electricity and a scream that chilled Matt to the bone and caused him to draw his laser pistol on reflex. Another voice said, "Interesting, it seems to hurt the subject…not like the human subjects at all."

That, Matt decided, was enough. He got up and strode round the corner, firing a stun blast into the back of one of the white coated figures and tossing one of his throwing knives into the arm of the other before punching him in the face. Matt just glared at the two recumbent figures before turning to the small figure on the table. The creature resembled a blue humanoid dragon with a white belly and a small yellow 'V' on its forehead. It was out cold from whatever the two creeps had been doing, but judging from the IV feed, it had been nasty.

Matt stared at the creature more closely, making a personal mental note to shoot whoever had authorised this treatment when it suddenly snapped awake and tried to back away, despite being strapped down. "L…leave me alone…please," it gibbered, clearly terrified as Matt tried to calm it down. "Easy, easy, I'm not with these losers. What's your name, dude?" he said, gesturing to the recumbent form of the unconscious scientists before grabbing a key from one of their pockets and unlocking the restraints.

The creature answered warily, "Veemon…who are you?" as Matt fiddled with a tricky restraint. "Private Matthew Lynch. I'll be your rescuer today…ACK!" he said as he undid the final strap, only for Veemon to cry "VEE-HEADBUTT!" and butt matt in the gut, winding him before running past and out the lab door.

Matt gasped. "There's gratitude for you," he said, doubled up. The lab door suddenly opened again and Veemon backed back inside, shaking with fear. "Come back to apolo…oh," said Matt as another person walked in behind Veemon, holding a rather nasty pulse blaster.

Matt was out of sight behind the table due to the sucker punch from Veemon…which was probably why he was currently not crispy due to pulse blasts. "You shouldn't be running loose…guess those idiots didn't tie you down properly," the guy said looking briefly at the scientists. Matt almost fainted. The guy's eyes were almost pure black. "You're going straight back to your box," said the guy, aiming a kick at Veemon. Matt, snapped at this, silently getting up, grabbing a surgical implement and swinging at him, only for the guy to spin, grabbing his arm. "Nice try," he said, kicking Matt so hard, he flew across the room.

Matt got up in time to barely block a punch from the guy that almost dislocated his arm before being thrown into a pair of crashcarts. Before Matt could get up, he saw the pulse blaster pointed at his face and a voice demanding, "What are you doing here, mercenary?" Matt gulped and quickly read the guy's name tag, "Well, 'Mark', I've heard from a quite reliable someone that something bad is happening down here. Apparently, he was right."

"Who told you?" demanded Mark. "Would you believe a creepy guy called Mr. Black?" Mark raised an eyebrow, "Black, you say? There isn't anyone by that name working here…" Suddenly a little voice called out, "VEE-KNOCKOUT!" Veemon had hit Mark in the back of the knee while he was distracted with Matt. Mark nearly stumbled and Matt took the advantage to grab the pulse blaster out of his hand. Before Mark could get it back, the butt was used to deck him hard. Mark was knocked out cold by the blow and crumpled to the floor. Matt got up and said, "Just be glad I decided not to use the other end." He turned to Veemon and said, "Why did you help me?"

"Easy, you actually did something nice to me on purpose," said the little creature. "Yeah, well, I think we should leave now. Something tells me that no one else is going to do something 'nice' for us." He opened the door of the lab and six rifle barrels were practically shoved up his nose. "Drat," Matt muttered.

--

A few minutes later, Matt and Veemon were marched to the head office. The grunt 'guiding' them knocked on the door. "Send them in," said a voice that Matt knew belonged to a person he was going to dislike. The door opened and Matt and Veemon were roughly shoved in. The room was a sizeable corner office with a TV/personnel communicator and a large desk that had several computer screens on it. Sitting at the desk was a rather weedy-looking man with brown hair and wore a white lab coat. He had a pair of glasses in front of his grey eyes that occasionally slipped and had to be pushed back up.

'For a boss, he doesn't look real tough,' thought Matt. The man smiled at Matt with a grin that oozed oiliness, "Matthew Lynch, right?" When Matt nodded, he continued, "I'm Professor Kurata, the head of research of Balwak Station. I've heard some nasty reports that you've been peeking at what we do in our labs. I had you brought here so we can be sure there are no… misunderstandings." "I think I understand well enough," said Matt, "when I heard something rotten was going on around here, I thought it was illegal weapon manufacturing. Instead, what I find is the cruel and unusual torture of fellow sentient beings."

Kurata frowned for a second but his oily smile returned, "I'm afraid you're mistaken about that. You see, Digimon aren't sentient beings. They aren't true beings at all." "Digimon?" said Matt confused, "what are those?" Kurata looked slightly surprised, "You mean you don't know what they are? But I forget, you're not from this world, are you? Well, Digimon, like Veemon over there, are monsters whose bodies are composed of computer data. There are many kinds of them and all of them are equally dangerous to humans. I'm simply doing humanity a favour in getting rid of them before they get rid of us." Veemon turned to Matt and said, "Don't listen to him! He doesn't understand Digimon at all. He's just afraid of them and so he hates them. Look, he won't even let one get near him."

Veemon approached Kurata's desk, much to Kurata's annoyance. He sneezed loudly and said, "Stay back, you little monster! You're getting your dander everywhere!" "Oh come on! I have scales! I don't even have dander!" protested Veemon. Kurata glanced at Matt and said, "See? He's practically threatening me. There's nothing good about him." Matt glared back and said, "Oh, I see alright. I see there's nothing good about you, Kurata. When I get back to Central, I'm making sure my bosses and the NSC Council hear all about the twisted things you did here."

Kurata frowned and said, "I had a feeling that you were going to say something like that. I was going to persuade you to keep quiet, but I see that will have no affect. In that case, I have only one other option." He pressed a button on his desk and the door immediately opened to show the grunts outside. "Take the Digimon back to the lab for further experimentation," ordered Kurata, "and as for this neophyte, throw him out the airlock."

Matt hadn't been standing doing nothing as Kurata had ranted about the dangers of Digimon. Matt had been sticking his hand into one of his back pockets. He'd found what he was looking for when Kurata summoned the guards to give him a free economy spacewalk.

"Hey, crazy dude," he said rudely to Kurata as a grunt grabbed his arm to pull him out, "Wanna see a trick?" Kurata grinned his trademark smile and said, "Why not? Consider it a last request." Matt smirked knowingly and muttered to Veemon, "Duck." before tossing a silver beeping disk into the middle of the floor. "Watch the birdy, smegheads," he said and threw himself down as the stunner disk jumped several feet in the air before firing an expanding circle of blue energy that caused Kurata and the grunts to crumple into snoring heaps.

Matt rifled through the pocket of the nearest guard till he found the cuff keys. "I really think we've outstayed our welcome," said Matt. Veemon nodded before saying, "How long will they be like that?" pointing to the recumbent guards. It was at this point that Kurata groaned and began to pull himself up. "About that long. Time to go," said Matt, grabbing Veemon's arm and running out the door.

Several yells were heard behind them and a few blue laser bolts ricocheted off the walls as they ran. "C'mon. My ship's this way. Once the Council hears your story, they'll lock that Kurata guy up till Doomsday," said Matt. The Station's PA said, "Intruders on admin level 2…all security apprehend and terminate." More security officers ran round the corner ahead. "There they are…blast em," yelled the leader, raising his rifle.

Matt pulled his spare blaster out and fired a few returning rounds, causing one security guard to spin to the floor, clutching his arm, before he and Veemon ran into a sidedoor, emerging into a large room clustered with computers, piping, and large storage tanks. A door at the opposite end flew open and more security ran in firing, causing Matt and Veemon to duck behind some pipes. "Ok. This wasn't in the plan," said Matt, firing blindly over the pipes at the security.

A cluster of rounds suddenly hit the pipe next to him, blasting a shot of cold steam into his face and throwing him out of cover. The security gleefully took this opportunity to concentrate their fire. Matt managed to scramble behind a tank similar to the ones the security team were using. Worse his gun was lying in the open out of reach, along with the pager and a few of the cards he'd picked up on the commerce station. He managed to reach the pager which had one of the cards jammed in the card reader in the side before another hail of lasers nearly made him one handed.

"Ok, man. It's over. C'mon outta there with your little scaley buddy and nobody'll get hurt," said the security team leader, earning a 'HEY!' from Veemon. Matt yelled back, "Not yet. Just you wait till I get my gun back." One of the guards fired a few rounds at Matt's cover only to be cut off. "Hold your fire, you idiot. You wanna blow us all up?" said their leader. Matt, however, couldn't see a way out. He couldn't receive his blaster without being turned into a colander by laser fire and he truly doubted the security team were 'not going to hurt them' if they surrendered.

Matt pulled the card out the pagers reader in frustration before clicking it to his belt. "Looks like you…" he began when some yells started again. He looked at Veemon and was surprised to see that the Digimon was now holding some kind of shield. He looked at the card he'd accidentally swiped to see the same shield there and read the title. "WarGreymon shield? Dear lord, I've fallen into the twilight zone," he muttered but was impressed at how the security team's laser rounds ricocheted harmlessly off Veemon's new shield.

He took the opportunity to grab his pistol and fire a few rounds into the tanks the security team had for cover, causing one of them to explode and make the security team scatter. Matt and Veemon took this opportunity to run out one of the doors, ignoring the sign on it that said 'Reactor Heat regulator 1. No firearms permitted!'

******Balwak Research Station, Dock and Escape Pod Levels**

Matt and Veemon ran through the corridors of Balwak towards where Matt's ship was docked. Suddenly the floor shook as a distant explosion was heard and the corridor was doused in red emergency lighting. "I have a bad feeling," said Veemon and was proved right as the Station computer calmly announced, "Warning. Catastrophic failure in Heat regulator 1. Reactor temperature approaching critical levels. All hands, abandon station."

Matt thought back to the room where the tanks had been and realised that there might have been a good reason for the warning signs on the tanks. "Oops," he said before running ahead, "My ship's this way. C'mon." Veemon didn't follow but said, "Er…Matthew? What does your ship look like?" looking out a porthole. Matt wandered back and stared out the same porthole to see a very familiar ship floating by. "You've got to be kidding me," said Matt glumly as the name 'Skyraid' floated into view.

A second explosion shook the station more violently and the alarms took on a new urgency. "Ok then. Plan B," said Matt and the two joined the now crowded rush for the escape capsules. Finally they managed to find an open one. Matt dived in just behind Veemon. The pod's computer calmly announced, "Please fasten harnesses for launch." And then did just that before the two could react, forcing them into the cushioned walls so hard they passed out. The pod swooped away just as Balwak seemed to swell before exploding violently, surrounding the pod with glowing debris as it headed towards earth…

******Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo, Japan**

Three young teenagers were quickly racing down the street at night. There was nobody to pay any attention to them, but if there were, they'd most likely pay attention to the three creatures accompanying the children. A red lizard/dragon creature with a hazard sign on its chest ran alongside a boy wearing goggles. A creature that looked like a cross between a white rabbit and a terrier with green markings flew besides a slightly older boy with blue-tinted hair. And a creature that resembled a humanoid fox ran with a girl who had her hair up in a ponytail. "Can you go any slower?" asked the girl, "that Digimon probably found a way to exit its digital field by now." "Sorry Rika," said the goggle-wearing boy, "me and Guilmon don't usually run to the warehouse district to fight Digimon." "You'd think we'd be used to it by now, right, Terriermon?" "Can you put a bit more energy into running instead of talking, Henry?" grumbled the fox creature. "Renamon's right," said Terriermon, "let's put the pedal to the metal."

Guilmon noticed a light up in the sky and paused. He looked up and asked, "Hey, Takato, what's that?" The rest of them looked up to see several streaks of light shooting across the sky. "It looks like a meteorite shower," said Rika. "That's weird," said Henry, "the newsman didn't say anything about a meteorite shower tonight. You think it has to do with the Digimon that's Bioemerged?" "We better get there and find out," said Takato and the rest of them started running again, not noticing one of those 'meteorites' moving very erratically and getting closer than most meteorites do.

--

Meanwhile, on board one of the 'meteors', Matt slowly stirred with a groan to see that almost every warning light on the pods simple controls were lit up and a high pitched alarm was wailing. The view screen just showed flames from the re-entry heat, which wasn't a good sign. Matt managed to get to the controls and grabbed the control stick, trying desperately to bring the pods speed to a landable one. If the pod landed now, it'd be like an asteroid strike in comparison, half the city would be flattened. Slowly, Matt began to wrestle the pod out of its kamikaze dive and it slowly began to level out over a large bay, revealing the lights of a larger city, the screens built in HUD identifying it as Tokyo.

"Not how I planned to visit Japan," said Matt, struggling to keep the pod level as it skimmed over the surface. "We might make it after all.," he muttered before a huge chunk of flaming debris shot down, missing the pod by mere inches and causing a column of spray to erupt into the night sky. The remaining debris of Balwak Station were beginning to land too and it would only take one to flatten the escape pod like a cola can under a pneumatic press. "Screw that. We're stuffed," said Matt, dodging the pod between the pieces of flaming station debris as they landed in the bay with what would have been deafening whomphs had the pod not had sound filtering. A sudden clang sounded through the pod as it suddenly lurched towards the surface. Matt barely had time to swear as the pod began skimming the surface like a skipping stone, covering at least a quarter KM per skip. The jump knocked Matt to the back of the pod again and each consecutive one bounced him and the still unconscious Veemon like peas in a tin.

The skipping stone effect probably saved the pod however, quickly decelerating the pod from its murderous speed to a more landing-friendly one. It was still fast enough though that the pod easily sliced a chunk off the dock's edge when it clipped the concrete and to set off sparks as it slid along the asphalt. Matt had enough time to mutter, "Oh crud," before the pod shot into the side of a smoke shrouded warehouse, demolishing the wall and hitting a shape in the smoke.

******Warehouse district, Tokyo**

Don sat behind cover, watching the Ultimate level Digimon, known as Datamon's silhouette in the field, moving around the warehouse, examining some of the computerised contents that the warehouse contained. "Ok…so our head-on attack didn't work," he said to the remaining members of the Exo-gene security force that Kurata had assigned him.

Suddenly a metallic screech was heard and a red hot escape pod shot by, leaving semi-melted asphalt in its wake, narrowly missing the group before pulverising the solid concrete wall of the warehouse. Datamon could be heard stating, "What in the soverei…?" before he was cut off by a louder clang. Don stood there staring straight ahead till one of the security guards said slowly. "Did I just see a…" Don cut him off. "No you didn't and neither did I. We're heading back to Lab 1. I've had enough for one night," he said in a slightly shaking voice. Nearly being squished by a red hot escape pod could do that to a man.

Inside the warehouse, the escape pod had ended up, nose up against the far wall, a spiderweb of cracks in the wall stood as testament to its landing. Sprays of nitrogen steam activated by the pod had rapidly cooled it down and a small hatch swung open, allowing a very shellshocked Matthew and a now very awake Veemon to crawl out onto the floor. Matt kissed the dirt muttering, "Thank you God. I'll never fly again. I won't even jump too high…bleh, cockroach."

Veemon moaned from next to him as he spat out the roach, "Am I deleted?" Matt turned and said, "Nope. You're still here." Veemon groaned again and said, "Pity…let's never do that again…ever." Matt got up shakily and helped Veemon to his feet too. "Agreed. Now let's go before the UFO nuts get here," Matt said. He turned and looked at the pod before giving it a sound kick. "Useless cut price deathtrap," he said bitterly and jumped back as the pod suddenly jerked.

"I-is there someone under there? YOW!" said Matt, jumping back. "I think we landed on someone," said Veemon as the pod was tossed aside and a strange machine that came up to Matt's chest got to its feet. "What do you think you're playing at?" it said in a slightly mechanical tone. Its gaze sent the instant message that it was not a happy robot. The 'pager' began beeping again and a hologram of the robot appeared on its screen with the name 'Datamon' and a list of other information.

Matt peered at it and back at Datamon, muttering, "Useful…wonder what other surprises this thing has?" before looking back at the angry Digimon, "Er…we're very sorry…we didn't mean to land on you." This apology didn't seem to do the trick as Datamon began to advance on the two. "You think a simple apology would do it, Human?" he said, raising his right hand at the two, fingers outstretched.

"I haven't had a chance to absorb a Rookie for ages," Datamon said, his voice taking a more sinister edge as he advanced. Matt may have only been a mercenary for a week or two but even he could spot a threat like that. He pulled out his blaster and took aim at Datamon. "Ok, buster. That's far enough," he said, clicking the laser guns charge up a notch.

Datamon didn't seem very worried that a firearm was pointed in his face, instead he seemed amused. "A laser? Is that the most advance piece of technology you have?" he said, as the ends of his fingers split apart to reveal more circuitry. "THIS is a weapon," he said before crying "DIGITAL BOMB!" Matt and Veemon ducked as a dozen or so orange projectiles that just missed them, hitting a stack of equipment which exploded.

"Ok…this isn't good," said Matt, getting up and firing a neat cluster of laser bolts into Datamon. The bolts bounced clean off with absolutely no effect. Datamon just laughed and cried "DATA CRUSHER!" Matt was shocked to see a large chunk of glass fly at him, knocking him into the air and out a window…

--

The Tamers had just reached the warehouse district in time to hear Matt's landing. "What on Earth was that?" asked Takato. "Sounded like it came from where the Digital Field is," said Rika. They quickly ran until they came upon the warehouse Matt had landed in. The sound of fighting was quite evident. "Sounds like we got here just in time," said Henry. Suddenly a window was smashed apart as a guy wearing mercenary armour and wielding what looked like a laser gun flew out and landed in front of their feet. He quickly got up and ran back inside, yelling, "I bet you can't do that again!" A few moments later, he flew out of the building through the same window. He got up again and said, "Okay, you did that again, but that's not stopping me!" After he ran back inside, Guilmon asked, "Who was that guy?" "Looks like he's been fighting with the Digimon," said Renamon, "and I saw a Digivice on his belt, so his partner must be in there too." "Doesn't look like they're winning," said Terriermon. "Then we have to go inside and help," said Takato and the six of them went into the warehouse.

They came in to see Matt and Veemon trying, and failing, to beat Datamon. Matt's laser had no affects whatsoever and Veemon's attacks didn't leave a scratch. In desperation, Matt ran back to the pod and looked inside. "It's gotta be in here somewhere… Aha! There you are," he said and he pulled out a plasma rifle. He pointed it at Datamon and yelled, "Eat plasma, chrome-dome!" He fired several blasts that managed to knock Datamon off his four feet. But other than the burn marks, it didn't seem to do much. Datamon growled and said, "I tire of toying with you like this, I will destroy you now and end this mockery of a challenge." He opened the ends of his fingers to attack but then he heard a voice yell, "If you want a challenge, try us for size."

Matt, Veemon, and Datamon turned to see Takato, Henry, and Rika swipe Digivolution Cards through their D-Arcs and call out, "Digimodify activate! Digivolution!" Guilmon in turn called out, "Guilmon digivolve to…Growlmon!" turning a large version of himself with white hair on his head. Terriermon said a similar phrase and turned a larger version of himself with guns for hands, a cartridge belt across his chest, and a pair of blue jeans called 'Gargomon' Renamon turned into a nine-tailed fox-like creature called 'Kyubimon'. Henry slashed another card and said, "Digimodify, Garbagemon Garbage shooter activate!" A bazooka made out tin cans appeared in Gargomon's 'hands' and he used it to shoot something sticky in Datamon's eyes. As Datamon tried to wipe it away, Growlman charaged over and punched him into a wall. Then Kyubimon cried out, "FOX TAIL INFERNO!" The burning tips of her tail threw fireballs at Datamon, which hit him directly. Datamon let out a weak groan and seemingly dissolved into particles. Then those particles went out the window.

The three Digimon reverted back to their previous forms. "That's strange," said Guilmon, "where'd his data go?" Then their attention turned to Matt and Veemon. "Thanks for the help," said Matt as he wiped the sweat off his face. "We'd have been goners if you hadn't shown up," said Veemon. "That was pretty dumb," said Rika, "challenging a Digimon that's Ultimate level when you're obviously new at this." "You're darn right I'm new at this," said Matt, "about half an hour ago, I never even heard of the word 'Digimon'. But then, that was before the station exploded." Henry looked at the escape pod and said, "Wait, you're telling us you came from a space station?" "It's a bit of a long story. Let's find something that's not charred to sit on and I'll tell it to you."

Meanwhile, Kurata was recuperating at his office at Lab 1, his base on Earth. He and his men had barely managed to get into the escape pods before the station exploded. His expression looked like to the innocent observer like he had just arrived from a long walk and was exhausted. But inside, he was steaming with anger. That mercenary had not only destroyed his space station, but he escaped with hard evidence against him. Fortunately, he knew that the escape pod would not likely be capable of anything after its landing and he knew that the Skyraid was floating somewhere out in space.

Suddenly, his computer beeped and Kurata turned his attention to it. It said that someone was trying to contact him. Kurata checked the identity of the caller and groaned, "Can't I get a moment's peace?" He clicked on an icon on the screen and a communication window opened up. The other 'person', if it can be called that, was a black humanoid Digimon with a demonic look. It had tattered bat-like wings and a red symbol on his chest that somewhat resembled a bat. Its head had a pair of horns and red eyes. The only skin showing on it was around his mouth, and that was a pale blue. "Devimon," said Kurata, his voice dripping with sarcasm, "what a delight." "Don't give me that talk," snarled the Fallen Angel Digimon, "You're lucky to be alive to speak with me." "I know," said Kurata, "that brat blew up Balwak really good." "I wasn't referring to that," said Devimon, "I mean I should destroy you now for you incredible stupidity."

Kurate pushed up his glasses and said, "That's a bit rash, even for you, Devimon. I admit that I had severely underestimated the damage that mercenary did, but I'm sure it's nothing we can't recover from." Devimon growled and said, "I might have expected this. Seeing how you were defeated by a fifteen-year old boy, I can't really expect any better to one who's barely seventeen." Kurata gave Devimon a glare to match his own, "If you stop berating for a minute, you'd see the opportunity of this." Devimon paused and raised his eyebrow, "Opportunity?" "Yes, you see, my men were unable to defeat Datamon while these 'Tamers' were able to do so effortlessly. After that, it was a simple matter of collecting the data. We can use these children and their Digimon to reach our goal. All we have to do is keeping sending those Digimon we're having trouble cracking and they'll crack them for us. And if those Digimon succeed in defeating them, it works out for us too. It's a win-win situation, Devimon, if we play it carefully."

Devimon rubbed his chin in thought and said, "Hmm, it's completely underhanded and is irregardless towards others in the way. What a splendid idea! That's what I like about you, Kurata, you know how to handle things to benefit only you, as well as though who are working for you. Very well, I'll leave you to this. I hope you don't do anything to disappoint me, for your sake." Then Devimon signed off and Kurata put his fingers together in a thoughtful way. "That Matt seems to have some talent," he muttered, "Let's see how long it can support him." He pulled a list of Digimon that he had in captivity and said, "It's showtime."

******Looks like my character has bitten off a bit more then he can chew…least he does'nt have to deal with it alone.**

******Please give some feedback but be nice…this is my first try at a digimon fic.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Digimon, Dr Kurata and digimon tamers is property of Bandai.**

**Nullspace, Matt, Exo-Gene inc and Balwak station are my property. Mark is the property of my co-author, Cydra.**

**C.P.S Chronicles: Digital Conspiracy**

**Chapter 2: 'Mouse Trap'**

**Osaka Park, Tokyo**

"...And so me and Veemon got into an escape pod before the station exploded and we landed here," finished Matt. The others gave him incredulous looks and Rika said, "You can't possibly serious about that. There's no way that happened." Matt just stared. "I have a laser gun, I'm wearing a battle helmet…and me n veemon arrived via escape pod…do I need a sign saying 'Interstellar person?"

Henry was also sceptical, "Well, what did your spaceship and the space station look like?" Matt shrugged. "The Skyraid looks like a NASA shuttle and the Balwak looked like a Tyre…on a…stick." He said, his voice trailing off under the combined sceptical glares. "I think a 'interstellar person' could give a better description on spaceships and space stations," said Renamon. Matt transferred his own glare in Renamon's direction "I've only been one for a fortnight." he said before realising that statement wouldn't help his case one Iota. Here, at Matt's relief, Veemon piped up, "He wouldn't lie! Besides you've got my word, what's there to doubt?"

Matt nodded. "Yeah...he was a prisoner on that place...God knows what that wack job, Kurata was doing to him." He turned to Veemon and asked "What were they doing?" Veemon looked thoughtful for a minute and then said "I dunno." causing a group sweat drop from all present. "What do you mean 'I dunno'?" cried Matt, "They were torturing you and you had no idea what it was about?" He took a few breaths. "Doesn't matter anyhow…Kurata probably went down with the ship…good riddance to bad rubbish, I say." Matt turned back to the tamers and said "Er…is there anywhere me and Veemon can crash for a while? The NSC will probably send a team to investigate once I don't report but till then…"

The others looked indecisive that but Takato said, "Well, there's the tunnel Guilmon used to live in." Matt shrugged. "Sounds a good place…where is it?

**Abandoned tunnel, Osaka park**

Matt peered around the tunnel. "Seems as good a place as any. Thanks. I should only be under your feet for a few days after I call home." he said, tapping a few of the buttons on his left glove. The glove made a 'SHRRRAK' and let loose a shower of blue sparks. "Ooops." said Matt to himself and turned his back. The tamers could hear him muttering to himself. "Stupid cut price piece of wrist comp junk...WORK!"

"Having trouble with that?" asked Henry. "Nope," said Matt, "just need a little recalibration," and started banging it on the sides of the tunnel. The computer finally let loose a high pitched 'fweeee' noise and a final shower of sparks before its screen went dark. Matt glared at it like it had done it on purpose and kicked the wall in frustration. "Smeg." He said and winced as a loose rock in the wall decided that diplomatic moment to fall on his foot.

Matt would have let out a larger, more colourful stream of words, but he remembered there were children present. He turned to the tamers and said slowly "Err…it may be a bit longer then a few days…at least till I fix this." Showing his wrist comp as proof.

**Exo-Gene Facility 'Lab 1' 30 miles south of Tokyo Harbour**

Kurata was sitting in his replacement office. He had a very irritated look on his face and was drumming his fingers against the desktop. "I can't believe I have to use this dump to continue my plans. That little punk will pay dearly, him and that wretched lizard that's with him." Just then Mark entered the room and said, "Excuse me, sir." Kurata glared at him and said, "You better have a good reason to be in here or I'm stuffing you inside a 3&1/2 floppy disk."

Mark swallowed audibly at the threat and said, "Er, we've found something out in orbit. It's that mercenary's ship." "What use is that to me?" asked Kurata. Mark swallowed and continued, putting a USB into Kurata's computer. It showed a feed from one of the satellites Exo-Gene had monitoring. The view showed the Skyraid float by, shortly before its defence system shot the satellite rendering the view that of static. "It's almost fully functional...if it lands, that merc could get back to the NSC and say what's happening here."

Kurata frowned and said, "We can't allow that to happen. We aren't nearly ready enough to show open hostility to any government, let alone the NSC. I think you should get rid of it as soon as possible." Mark nodded and was about to walk out of the room when Kurata called, "Wait a minute! I have an idea!" Mark nodded and said "Its close enough for us to bring it in on auto...but why don't we just buy him off? He is a mercenary, after all."

Kurata nodded but added, "But let's not forget, he's also a Tamer, the Digivice proves it. That could complicate matters. We better send another Digimon in case things don't go our way." Mark nodded "We already have a Jump disk in place in the park...make enough fuss and he might turn up. I could have some men waiting for when he turns up...all that confusion...accidents can happen."

**Osaka Park, Tokyo.**

It turned out that one function of Matt's Wrist computer was still working…the alarm. It chose to give this fact at 7:30 am the next day. After a night sleeping on the concrete floor of the tunnel, matt was not a morning person, hitting it with a large stone before moaning. "Oh dear lord…its 7:30…I've never even seen 7:30…I wish I still hadn't."

Veemon stirred from where the small dragon digimon had chosen to sleep, mumbling something about killer tomatoes before dropping off again. Matt smirked, yawned a bit and got to his feet. "Might as well go get some grub…" he muttered before heading to the exit and out into the street. Unnoticed, he was spotted by a guy wearing a headset. "Er…captain? You're not gonna believe who just strolled by."

Matt approached a general store and went inside. Fortunately, he had an Earth-language translator (otherwise he wouldn't have been able to talk to the other Tamers) and he was able to convert his credits into Japanese Yen. As he was looking at some of the food, he felt something pressed into his side and heard someone say. "Don't move. I just want to talk." Said a familiar voice. Matt sighed. "Aren't you supposed to be dead? No. Don't answer that. It's too early in the morning." He said not turning.

Mark smiled slightly and said, "It appears your sense of humour hasn't changed much." "When you're in the mercenary business, your sense of humour's one of the most important things to have," said Matt, "It keeps you sane." Matt turned to look at Mark holding a barely visible laser pistol. "So...why aren't your rent-a-cop security shooting me up? I've nothing I want to say to you and your scumbag boss except 'Die'!"

Mark just grinned, saying "C'mon. This isn't your fight…surely you want to get out of here." Matt didn't reply, content just to glare at him. Mark pulled out an NSC credit chip from his pocket and showed it to Matt. "Here…triple what your contract for transporting personnel would have been. Just tell us where the digimons is and you can go."

Matt stared at the credit chip like it was a viper before looking up at Mark with a look of pure hatred. "You think after what I saw those goons on Balwak station were doing to Veemon that I'd simply hand him back to you and keep my mouth shut?" he said with barely concealed venom. Mark sighed and put the chip away. "Don't be a fool, Lynch. You think you can take on all of Kurata's division by yourself? You'll be wasted."

Matt simply glared before saying "You heard me. The answer is no deal. Get lost." Mark sighed, pocketing his laser before turning to leave. At the door he turned and said to Matt. "You have no idea what you're up against." Before leaving.

--

Matt was walking back to the tunnel with some food for him and Veemon, pondering on Mark's parting words and regretting thanks to the many images his imagination was throwing up when he got the horrible feeling he was being followed. He reached for his blaster and swore when he realised it was still in the tunnel.

Matt steeled himself and then turned around. There was nothing behind him. Matt sighed a bit in relief and said, "I don't scare that easily." He turned around and a face popped up right in front of him and yelled, "Boo!" Matt yelped and fell backwards.

Matt groaned and sat back up. Rolling on the ground with laughter in front of him was a small Digimon. It was mostly purple except for its red gloves and scarf, its white face, and the yellow mischievous face on his belly. It had large ears and a barbed tail. The mystery device beeped and displayed a profile for the newcomer. "Impmon, is it? What the smeg is the big idea?" he said with barely concealed fury. In his mind, a small debated was going, with the majority of his mind saying that he should let off some steam... starting with this new mon if its explanation wasn't shockingly good.

Impmon finished cackling and wiped some tears from his face. "You shoulda seen that look on your face," he said with a slight Brooklyn accent, "that was absolutely priceless." "Hope it's worth enough to pay your medical bills," growled Matt. He dove at Impmon who jumped over his head. "Stay still, you little gremlin." He yelled, turning and trying to grab Impmon again. "I have been shot at, dropped from orbit and attacked by a robot reject…I AM NOT IN A GOOD MOOD!" he yelled finally managing to grab Impmon by the leg, lifting him to eye level. "Can you fly?" he said with an evil grin.

Impmon looked nervous and said, "Well not in this form, but when I digivolve to-" Impmon was able to finish because Matt just punted him into a nearby duck pond. As Matt walked away, Impmon came back to the surface and spat the water out of his mouth. "Some people have no sense of humour," he grumbled.

--

Matt came back into the tunnel, muttering to himself to see Veemon getting up. "Hey, dude. Got us some grub." he said, putting the bag down and pulling a packet of crisps out of it before offering some to veemon. Veemon snatched the packet and rapidly devoured it before Matt could say anything. Matt looked at Veemon incredulously and said, "Something tells me you're hungrier than I thought." He pulled out a bottle of water and sat down opposite Veemon. "What do you remember about what they did?" he asked curiously. "From the looks of things, it wasn't any good at all."

Veemon looked up and shrugged. "I don't really know. It hurt, I know that for sure. They just appeared one day and grabbed me." Matt put down his water and said "Well…I'm not going to let them get their claws on you again…you got my word on that." He said. The ground shook and a distant 'thoom' was heard. "What was that?" said Veemon, looking up just as Matt's pager thing beeped, displaying some kind of compass function, the arrow pointing towards the ceiling. "Trouble. Explosions generally signal that." Matt said, getting up.

--

Mark arrived back where his men were setting up one of their homemade digimons traps, nicknamed Data Traps by Kurata's scientists. It was basically a small disk with a small satellite dish pointing skywards. A technician looked up and saluted. "Sir…traps set up and waiting…I personally don't like the rush job we did…we should have a backup in case."

Mark scoffed and said, "It's just a basic capture, won't take long. Although personally, I'd rather use this Digimon on that mercenary. How long until it bio-merges?" The Technician looked at his wrist computer. "Thirty seconds till he's in range his end." The data trap's dish slowly rotated to aim better and a lime green beam shot skyward with a whining voice. Almost immediately a thick fog began to appear above it. The technician looked at the readings. "Ok…he's en route…might take a minute…we don't want to attract that Hypnos groups attention."

Marks comm crackled as the squad watching the trap radioed in. "Sir…we gotta fix…looks like we gotta good catch. Trap is activating…what the he…?" the line abruptly went to static at the same time as a small explosion was heard

A pit seemingly opened in the ground and the Digimon flew out of it. It greatly resembled a cross between a sword and a mechanized mosquito without any legs and sparks of electricity for wings. Before the men could do anything, it flew straight through the trap, its blades going through like a knife through bread.

Several of Marks men fired a series of rounds off as the digimon circled before they were dispatched by a vacuum blast from it. The technician pulled himself up as the digimon flew further into the park. "I don't wanna say I warned you but..." He silenced under marks glare. "Then don't." said Mark coldly. His comm beeped again. "Mark? This is spotter 3…you're not gonna believe who we just saw come outta that abandoned tunnel we mapped out last night."

Mark's eyebrow rose as he listened. "Now we're getting reports of the other Tamers heading towards the park. Shall we try to intercept the Digimon?" "No," said Matt, "we keep those kids away and take care of it later." "Why sir?" asked spotter 3. Mark grinned and said, "Simple, it's heading straight for that tunnel."

--

Back at the tunnel, Matt peered out into the park before waving Veemon up. He wasn't taking chances and he trusted Mark as far as he could toss the guy. Outside a thick fog had formed that made it near to impossible to see more then a few feet. "What the heck? Weird weather…you ok?" he said noticing that Veemon had suddenly gone all alert.

"I'm not sure," said Veemon, "something about this seems awfully familiar." "How so?" asked Matt. "I think this is a digital field, which means that a Digimon has bio-emerged." "Oh," said Matt, trying not to sound nervous, "Do you think it's friendly?" But suddenly a vacuum wave came out of nowhere and sent them flying.

Veemon landed in a bush and matt ended up upside down against a bench. "Scratch that question." He moaned as he and Veemon got up. The offending digimons flew into sight for a second, causing Matt's device to display a profile like it had the previous night in the warehouse. "BladeKuwagamon…no wonder he's angry, having a name like that." Said Matt "Wonder what his beef is with us…not like we landed an escape pod on him."

"Most Digimon are a bit testy after bio-emerging," said Veemon. "That's a bit of an understatement," said Matt as BladeKuwagamon was trying to make a human shish kabob out of him. "Can't we discuss this in a non violent fashion?" he shouted, narrowly avoiding another of BladeKuwagamons 'Spark blade' attacks. He dived as the digimons fired another air knife attack at them. "Guess not…Where the hell are those kids? We could really use a hand."

--

The Tamers, however, were having trouble getting into the park. For some reason, there were armed men guarding the park and they seemed quite familiar with Digimon. Rika managed to knock them out with Myotismon's Sleeping Mist and they were able to get in.

A guy in camouflage gear walked out of the digital field as the last of the soldiers slumps snoring to the floor. "Now that was impressive." He said with a smirk. "It's a real shame I can't let you three go into that field…well…not yet anyway." He said.

"Get out of our way," said Takato, "You can't keep us out. You don't have a weapon or a Digimon." Mark laughed loudly and said, "You couldn't be more wrong. I'm my own Digimon." Mark grabbed a Digivice that was hanging off his belt and pressed a button. He was surrounded by digital light as he cried out, "Bio-hybrid Digivolve to..." The light faded, showing a large lizard-like Digimon with army gear, wires running down the sides of his body, and a tube on the back of his red helmet, "BioChameleonmon."

Almost immediately, Biochameleonmon leapt into the offensive, crying out "Tongue lashing!" and sending his tongue out to whiplash Renamon and Guilmon onto their backs before the digimons could get over the shock of seeing a human become a digimon before shimmering out of sight. Marks voice echoed apparently from nowhere as Guilmon and Renamon got up, saying "What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?"

--

Meanwhile, Matt and Veemon's morning had not gone any better. Matt fired a few round s into BladeKuwagamon as the angry digimons dove at them for the umpteenth time, only for them to bounce off. "Dammit…I need a bigger gun." He said as he got up from where he'd dived to avoid the attack. "Shame that you don't have wings." He said cheerfully to Veemon.

Then a thought occurred to Matt. That shield appeared in front of Veemon when that card slipped through that device, could another card give him wings? Matt quickly looked through the cards he had for something like that. "No, no, no,..yes. Here we go." He said, flipping through the card deck till he found a card called 'Hyper Wing'. "Hope you dun like heights." He said to veemon, slashing the card. "Go get that overgrown bug."

Six glowing wings sprouted out of Veemon's back and he lifted off the ground. Veemon looked unsteady at first but quickly got over it. He dived towards BladeKuwagamon yelling, "Vee-Headbutt!" Matt cheered from the ground as BladeKuwagamon visibly winced from the impact of Veemon's and shook in mid air. He quickly began shooting a few more rounds in order to distract Bladekuwagamon from retaliating against Veemon. And was a bit more successful then he wished as the furious digimons shot at him, using its 'Spark Blade' attack, almost hitting him.

But then Veemon attacked with his Vee-Knockout that sent BladeKuwagamon crashing into the ground. It tried to get back up, but its blade was stuck in the ground. Matt got up from where he'd landed to see BladeKuwagamon struggling on the ground pitifully and felt sorry for it. It hadn't been the digimons fault it had been warped there. He walked slowly up to it, intent on stunning it and sending it back after he'd found the wormhole generator used to bring it, when it suddenly got free, scratching him and knocking him down. Just as he'd seemed screwed he heard Veemon cry 'VEE-KNOCKOUT!' and the BladeKuwagamon seemed to dissolve into data like the digimons in the warehouse had.

The data swirled around Veemon and assimilated into his body. "What was that?" asked Matt. "I was loading his data," said Veemon, "it gives me a boost for future fights." "I'm not sure I understand how that works," said Matt. "We'll talk about it later. Right now, I think I hear fighting on the other side of the park." Said Veemon Then the two of them ran off towards where the sounds of battle were.

--

Meanwhile, the tamers were trying to beat Mark/Biochameleonmon but were not having much luck, even with their digimons in champion form thanks to Biochameleonmons ability to cloak, pop out and attack, then re-cloak. Matt and veemon ran round the corner to see the fight. "Where's the bad guy?" said Matt and stopped as Biochameleonmon appeared for a second to tongue whip Gargomon from behind. "Oh…interesting." He said before pushing the visor on his helmet down.

He switched the settings on it to Thermal scan mode, causing everyone to appear as red spots on a green background, including BioChameleonmon. "Growlmon," called Matt, "he's right behind you." Growlmon lashed his tail and struck BioChameleonmon. Matt turned his head, tracking BioChameleonmon as he got up, still cloaked and went for Gargomon. "Gargomon. Heads up. He's to your right." Called Matt. Gargomon turned and yelled "GARGO BLASTER!" letting loose a barrage of energy bullets in the concealed digimons direction, this time removing the cloak.

Before BioChameleonmon could retaliate, he was run over by Kyubimon's Dragon Wheel attack. That last attack was too much and he reverted back to Mark. Matt burst into a grin, albeit the sort of grin that headed for drowning swimmers and had a fin on top. "Mark…so that's why you've got wonky eyes. Hah…don't you know military gene modifications are for losers?" he said.

Mark smiled back and said, "That's just the tip of the iceberg. Too bad you'll never find out more before you wreck." With that, he activated his local teleporter and vanished, seemingly dissolving into thin air along with the unconscious members of his team. Matt sighed, too tired to be annoyed that he knew marginally less about what Exo-Gene was up to then when he'd started. He looked up to see the tamers looking at the pager device on his belt. "Where did you get that?" asked Henry. Matt looked at the device and shrugged. "Some guy on a commerce station gave me it. You know what it is?"

"Know what is? I surprised you don't know what it is. It's a Digivice, like ours." The others showed their Digivices to Matt. "You really don't know anything about Digimon, do you?" said Rika. "Not really." "Then prepare for a crash course, Rika style." Matt suddenly felt very worried at those words and was suddenly reminded of the instructor from his mercenary training.

**Exo-Gene Research Facility 'Lab 1'.**

"You idiot. You had that mercenary right where you wanted him…and instead you picked a fight with the tamers. Now it'll be even harder to deal with him and get Specimen 15 back." Yelled Kurata at Mark, who had only returned a few hours ago, clearly furious.

Mark cringed as Kurata continued, "And you allowed let BladeKuwagamon's data get away. This entire mission was a complete failure. I hope you can think of something to make up for it real soon or you will find yourself in a very unpleasant situation." Mark summoned some courage and said. "He'll be looking for a way off-planet and back to NSC territory…and his ships almost in remote range…it'd make good bait for a trap."

Kurata looked thoughtful, "A trap, huh? That could work and it has a certain style that I like. Very well, I'll get some men on that, but we are not underestimating him again." Mark nodded. "No. Neither will I, sir."

**Looks like Kurata has something nasty in store for Matt and Veemon…Read and review please and I will update once me and Cydra update our other story in the L&S section.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Digimon, Dr Kurata and digimon tamers is property of Bandai.**

**Nullspace, Matt, Exo-Gene inc and Balwak station are my property. Mark is the property of my co-author, Cydra.**

**C.P.S Chronicles: Digital Conspiracy**

**Chapter 3: 'Ambushed'**

**Disused Tunnel under Osaka Park, Tokyo.**

Matt woke up and almost immediately the events of the previous day assaulted his brain. "Oh hell…did we and veemon really take on a giant flying blade thing?" he moaned, his arm throbbing to remind him that indeed he had. He looked over at Veemon who was snoring like a chainsaw. "Well…least I know for sure I'm not dreaming."

Matt laid back down to get a few more Z's, but almost immediately, he heard a very loud noise that sent him back up. Matt woke up immediately with a scream and flailed for his blaster, thinking in his half asleep state that it was a boarding alarm. Veemon was also bolt upright with a shellshocked expression. "W-who did that?" said Matt with a barely concealed yawn

Then Matt noticed Rika standing with a wooden spoon in one hand and a frying pan in the other. "Rise and shine, sleeping beauties," she said, "we've got training to do." "Can't we do it after noon?" yawned Matt. Rika responded by rapping the frying pan on his head. Matt was unhurt due to his helmet but the ringing noise still hurt. "Ok, ok. Damn...are you sure you weren't an CPS drill seargent in a previous existance?" he muttered. Veemon staggered up, said "Too...tired." and fell face first and started snoring again.

Unfortunately, his rear was in an upright position, which made it a prime target for Renamon's Diamond Storm attack. Matt winced as Veemon jumped about 12 feet in the air with a yell but at least he was wide awake now. "Ok, that was evil." he said before turning to look at Rika. "Ok, lets get this over with so me n Veemon can go back to bed faster."

The training was mostly regarding digimodifying, with Rika teaching Matt what kind of cards to use. Sometimes Matt made a mistake which earned him a rap on his knuckles with the wooden spoon. "This is ridiculous." Said Matt after the first hour and 15th knuckle rap. "If I had my ship I wouldn't need this…card trick. I'm a mercenary, not a conjurer." He said, annoyed by the effects of only 12 hours sleep in two days. A lowering of local temperature told him he'd put his foot in it with those words.

Rika looked calm, but she had a malevolent glint in her eye. "Perhaps a proper demonstration is in order," she said. She slashed a card through that had a digimon named Frigimon on it. Renamon clenched her fish and it was surrounded with cold air. "SUBZERO ICE PUNCH!" she called and she punched Matt in the chest. Matt was covered with ice before he could move. Veemon, who'd been watching the training almost went white with shock before rushing over to Matt. "Did you have to do that?" he said, chipping the ice away from Matt's head with his claws. Matt would have said something very nasty, but his mouth was frozen shut. He settled for glaring at Rika.

**Exo-Gene facility 'Lab 1'**

Mark stood over one of the technicians that were working in the bases starport control room. "Ok…I'm into its controls…good…seems like its ok…we should probably eject the jump-drive core before It lands." He said to Mark. "Right," said Mark, "wouldn't want him to get away. You should probably take care of the communicator too." The technician grinned. "No need...it would need the Balwak's relay system to comm the NSC...and he blew that up."

Mark nodded and activated his communicator, "Sir, we've got the ship. We'll need some backup in case things get out of hands. But what if those other tamers come?" "Don't worry," said Kurata's voice, "my business partner has a... surprise ready for them."

Mark nodded and walked outside to where the team w3as assembling at the labs main teleporter. He was impressed t see that Kurata had let the team take a few of the lab 1 defence forces Goliath class tanks. The rest of the team were wearing stealth suits and holding nasty looking rail carbines. "Ready to go, sir." Said the squad leader. The group looked up as a distant comet signalled that the control team had steered the Skyraid into the atmosphere. Mark looked at the assembled forces and said, "He won't be getting away that easily this time."

**Osaka Park, Tokyo.**

By the time Matt was thawed out, Takato and Henry had arrived which was just as well as by then Matt was in a murdering mood. "You little maniac. I could have been killed." Yelled Matt as Veemon clung to his leg to stop him lunging at Rika.

Rika merely shrugged and said, "That's what proper digimodification is like. You use combinations of different cards to overwhelm your opponents. You can get even better combos when your digimon digivolves." Matt shook Veemon off and to the tamers horror drew a gun from his pocket. "If this is your idea of 'help' then me and veemon definitely do NOT need it." he said, his gun whining from the loaded charge. He finally lowered the blaster when his wrist comp beeped. He looked and then turned to leave. "Veemon? Let's go." Veemon looked awkward and started to say "I'm sure he doesn't..." but was interrupted by a "NOW!" from the still angry Matt and turned to follow Matt.

Renamon was suspicious of that beeping so tailed after Matt, keeping to the shadows. Veemon was also concerned about Matt and asked, "What's the matter, Matt? Something wrong?" Matt looked at the readout. "Maybe…My ships in re-entry mode…its gonna land close to where you n me landed. Its too convenient." He said, concerned before turning to Veemon. "Go back to the tunnel and wait there…if its ok, I'll come get you…ok?" Veemon opened his mouth to argue but Matt said "No buts. Kurata and his rent-a-cops are after you…if it's a trap and I dun return…I'm sure the tamers'll watch your back."

He turned and headed into the darkness, leaving Veemon to head back…but as Renamon watched, Veemon waited then set off after his tamer in secret. Renamon's eyes narrowed slightly and said, "That is too convienient. This must be a trap too, but I think it's also meant for Matt." And she quickly ran back to tell the others.

**Warehouse district, Tokyo Docks**

Matt peered round the corner at where his ship had landed. It was so tempting to just run up and power its engines up. Luckily Matt had a sense of self preservation that was screaming 'Trap' at him. He ran yet another heat scan from his helmet before finally sneaking out towards the ship.

As Matt walked over he thought to himself, "It's quiet. TOO quiet." He had a feeling of being followed and looked behind him. When he didn't see anything he continued walking forward. The minute his back was turn, BioChameleonmon appeared and yelled, "Attack!" At Marks words, a group of Exo-Gene troops shimmered into view, holding stun sticks and laser rifles. Matt punched the first one to rush him and pushed him into his fellows but was hit on the back of the head by a third. A rifle barrel pressed into his neck and a voice said "Freeze or die."

When Matt came around later, the first thing he noticed was a tank in front of him. That immediately alerted him to the rest of the tanks. A tank tends to occupy a persons attention…especially when they were aiming at you. Then he noticed Mark strolling between them. "Nice piece of work, aren't they?" said Mark, "I imagine only one would be necessary to dispose of you, but better safe than sorry. And you're going to be sorry soon if you don't tell us where your Digimon is." Matt 'replied' by spitting on marks boot. "I wouldn't tell you for a million credits and a free ticket home." he said with venom in his voice. The guard behind him hit his helmet so hard that it sparked. "Hey. Those are expensive. You're getting my repair bill, dufus." he joked feebly

Mark wiped off the spit and said, "Apparently he's too stubborn to tell it straight. I'm pretty sure the good doctor might have something to fix that." Matt felt his face pale a bit at the thought of it. Matt said weakly. "You wouldn't...thay don't even bother arresting people for that...they just shoot em." Matt too a deep breath and said. "Take a jump in a bay, smeghead."

Mark frowned at the insult, but Matt was saying it to him. He had noticed Veemon hiding behind some boxes. The 'insult' was his way of telling him to get out of here. Matt continued to say. "Veemon is much too sneaky for you, braincase. He'll disappear, vanish. You'll never see him again no matter how hard you look." Veemon seemed to get the message and vanished from view and Matt inwardly sighed…till a sound made his heart plummet. Veemon could be heard crying "Get off me.!" And a guard came round the corner, holding him. "Found this little gecko spying…" he said. Matt hung his head in defeat.

Mark grinned evilly. "Then I guess we don't need you then, he said, aiming at Matt with his pulse blaster. "Any last words?" he said. Matt looked up sadly, then to Marks surprise smiled. "Yeah, smeghead...Duck!" he said and rolled to the side as two red beams struck one of the tanks, blowing it apart.

Matt looked to see what was presumably the other Digimons' ultimate forms causing chaos as he ran to his ship. He looked around inside and said, "I hope that they haven't done anything with my stuff." He opened a locker to reveal a row of different rifles. He grabbed one at random that had a tuning fork-like barrel and ran out again followed by Veemon who asked "What's that do?" Matt sighted at the last tank and pulled the trigger. A blue beam shot out and went clean through the tank as it was about to fire on one of the digimon and caused the tank to blow apart. "That." Matt said with a smirk. "Lets go dropkick Mark in the harbour." He added and he ran off in the direction that Mark had gone with Veemon in tow.

Mark was still waiting for the chopper, listening to the battle back at the Skyraid when he felt Matt press his rifle to his head. "So…you were gonna shoot me…do I get a go at shooting you?" said Matt. Mark quickly activated his Digivice and switched into Digimon form. He became invisible and said, "If you can shoot me." Matt swore and swept his gun round in an arc, searching for anything that would give Mark away. A tongue whipped out and knocked Matt against the wall before pulling the gun out his hand, Biochameleonmon appearing, gripping Matt by the throat.

BioChameleonmon growled and said, "You're a real pain in the tail, you know that?" "I do what I can," said Matt, though it was hard to get it out with his throat being squeezed like that. Just as Matt was about to pass out, he heard Veemon cry out "VEE-HEADBUTT!" and ram Biochameleonmon from behind, causing him to drop Matt who crawled out of grabbing range, gasping.

BioChameleonmon snarled and turned around, about to bash Veemon's head against the concrete. But suddenly he heard someone call, "RAPID FIRE!" and missiles exploded all around him. BioChameleonmon looked up to see the Ultimate-level Digimon approaching. He growled and turned invisible saying, "This isn't over!" Veemon rushed up to where Matt was leaning against a wall. "Are you ok?" he said. Matt grinned weakly. "Yea...gonna be sore for a while...oh nuts." he said spotting the other two ultimates coming into view. "I really hope these guys aren't hungry." he said.

The three Ultimates changed back to their Rookie states and Matt let out a sigh of relief. "Man, am I glad to see you guys. Me and Veemon would have been long gone if you hadn't shown up, me particularly." A little voice in matts head reminded him of his actions earlier. He got up, unsteadily and looked around for the tamers. "Guess I snapped a bit earlier...still...least I'll be out your hair now my ships back." he said with mock cheerfulness

Suddenly a lot of smoke came out of the warehouse the ship was in. "Uh, I think they did something with your ship." Matt started with disbelief and said, "Would you excuse me for a second?" He switched his helmet to communicator only and started swearing every foul word he knew. Once he'd blown off enough steam, he strode into the warehouse alone. Terriermon after a second went closer and jumped as a blood curdling scream was heard. Matt had just seen what the demo charges had done to the ships jump drive. Luckily in his anguish he was now swearing in local splitter which was just as well.

**Exo-Gene facility 'Lab 1'**

Mark, however, was not having a pleasant time. Once again he was up in front of Kurata getting berated, "You're really slipping now, Mark," said Kurata, "one more screw-up and I'm going to assign some new bio-hybrids to deal with Matt." Mark tried to say "But the tamers...we should get rid of them." Behind him, the only other current hybrid, Don was grinning at Marks discomfort before Kurata said "I don't know why you're happy...you had a chance to get rid of him when he landed."

Don frowned and said, "But boss, we're the only two bio-hybrids you got." Kurata gave a mysterious smile and said, "That might not be true for long." Suddenly his answering machine beeped and he said, "Now what could that be about." He flipped it on and all three of them were thrown back by the sound of Matt's loud swearing.

**Well, Matt has his ship back but he's still stranded. What will Dr Kurata cook up for our heroes next? Find out next time.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Digimon, Dr Kurata and digimon tamers is property of Bandai.**

**Nullspace, Matt, Exo-Gene inc and Balwak station are my property. Mark is the property of my co-author, Cydra. **

**C.P.S Chronicles: Digital Conspiracy**

**Chapter 4: 'Tanks a lot'**

**Tokyo Docks, Warehouse area.**

The day after Matt got his ship back, Takato and Henry decided to visit and see how he's doing. Takato brought some bread from his parents' bakery. As they approached the warehouse storing Matt's ship, Veemon could be seen watching the doors from a distance, wearing one of matt's spare combat helmets from the ships store, which was much too large. The reason was apparent when something in the building went boom and a cloud of black smoke came out. Veemon sighed as Matt staggered out of the smoke, smiling the distant smile of the recently concussed. "Hi, guys." He said cheerfully when he turned and spotted Takato and Henry. "Matt's trying to fix the engines. I don't think it's supposed to do that though."

"We, uh, brought some bread from the bakery," said Takato. Veemon immediately grabbed several pieces and ate them. Matt looked at Veemon and said, "Do all Digimon eat like that?" Veemon nodded before offering Matt a pice of bread. Matt nibbled a piece. "Its good...better then the ration packs in the ship. Veemon stopped eating, as the memory of that mornings breakfast came back to haunt him.

"So how's repairs going?" asked Henry. "Slower than a snail with a limp," said Matt, "I wasn't trained in spaceship repairs." "What were you trained in?" asked Takato. "Mostly shooting and blowing stuff up." Matt noticed their expressions. "What?" he said

**Exo-Gene Facilty 'Lab 1'**

Mark was not in a good mood. He was steadily growing sick of how that mercenary was showing him up, him and that cursed digimon he was partnered up with. The only good thing was that Don and the new hybrid, Dallas had come up with a plan involving one of the projects that Kurata was running.

Mark didn't know exactly what it was about, but he knew that had used the Digital Gate to go the Digital world earlier. Mark spotted Dallas easily in one of the research vehicle garages. "Mark. I just got the last bit. You know the trouble the R&D department have been having with that new tank idea?" he said cheerfully. "Yeah, they said they couldn't get the right materials to build it. What of it?" Dallas laughed. "Show him, Don." Don opened the hatchway to one of the storage bays and a silvery battletank sat there. Mark stared. "Is that one of the old 'Achilles' mech-tanks? You brought me down to show me a tank you spray painted silver?"

"This isn't spray paint," said Don, "this is the strongest metal in the Digital World, Chrome Digizoid." Mark stared at the tank. "But it doesn't have a computer anymore…all the old tanks had their A.I's deleted upon decommission. This is just a curiosity the old lab head kept." Dallas grinned and produced a data storage capsule. "We got the driver right here. The tamers won't know what hit em."

"Don't tell me you got a Digimon to drive it," said Mark, "It won't do a thing you say, let alone know how to drive that thing." Dallas grinned. "No...we put a basic A.I in...but if we upload the data to its memory, it'll have all the combat experience..." he said.

Mark frowned and said, "Still, I'm not sure sending a smart tank out is a good idea. It'd cause to much of a ruckus and innocents could get hurt." Dallas stared. "Ok...we'll just tell Kurata we had a great plan but you blackballed it." he said before heading for the door. Mark groaned and said, "Fine, but we only use it in isolated areas and only if they're there."

Dallas clapped his hands together and said "Ok…we can start near the dock. I doubt he'll desert his only possible ride off-world so readily…despite us disabling it. Just in case though...we can set up a data trap to attract em." with a evil grin. Mark had always felt that Dallas enjoyed his job a bit too much

**Tokyo Docks, Warehouse area.**

Matt was showing Takato and Henry his ship. It did indeed look like a space shuttle, except for the lethal looking weapons mounted under the wings. The words 'SkyRaid' were visible under a scorch mark on the hull "Isn't she a beauty?" Matt said, patting the side. Suddenly a piece of metal fell off and fell on his foot. Matt clenched his teeth to prevent any screaming and swearing. "Its supposed to do that." He said, wincing."

Suddenly, a beeping came from inside the ship, from a wall panel. Matt walked up the ramp and looked. "Uh oh…Hey guys…check this feed from the news channel." The recording showed a story of a strange mist covering a newly built area in the north of the city. "That looks familiar." Said Matt.

"Looks like a digital field," said Henry, "We'd better call Rika." "There have also been reports of mysterious men operating in that area." "I'll give you three guesses to who that would be," said Matt.

--

Meanwhile, on one of the skyscrapers, a little Digimon was taking a nap. He had a large white head with purple ears and feet. He also had a symbol on his forehead that resembled three triangles around a red triangle. His name was Calumon and he was sleeping peacefully until a loud explosion woke him up. He blinked his green eyes and asked, "What was that?"

He wandered over to the edge of the roof and looked outwards. He could see a lot of smoke coming from the warehouse area. "Looks like trouble, I wonder what the guys are doing." Calumon extended his ears so they resembled wings and flew off in that direction.

--

Matt came down the ramp, with several nasty looking guns and a new helmet. Sadly, the helmet goggles made him look like a complete and utter twit, which was re-enforced when Veemon burst out laughing at his appearance. Matt tactfully chose not to retaliate and said. "Did you get through to Rika?...what the hell?" he said seeing a small white digimon coming down to land on the tarmac outside the warehouse

The little Digimon waddled over to Matt and said, "Hiya!" Matt's arms were full of weapons so he couldn't check his Digivice. Fortunately, Takato and Henry were there. "Hey Calumon," said Takato. "You know him?" asked Matt. "He's an old pal of ours, he helps our partners digivolve." Veemon waved "Hiya. I'm Veemon." Matt shrugged. "I'm Matt…Nice to meet ya." Smiling. He looked over in the direction of where the news had said the digifield was. For some reason, he had a bad feeling about what was waiting there.

"You sure you want to bring all of that?" asked Takato. "Don't worry, the safety's on all of them." Suddenly one slipped from his hands and hit the ground. It shot off a laser that blasted through a warehouse door. "Except for that one." Matt picked up the offending weapon and turned the safety on. "Now its fine." he said and went wide eyed as it shot him in the foot. He settled for throwing it away. "Lets just go." he said glumly "Before my luck sets off my rocket rifle."

**New development, Edge of Tokyo.**

The three bio-hybrids were just waiting with their tank. "How long could it take for that guy to get here?" complained Mark. "Well, maybe you should have gotten better bait," said Don. "A GeoGreymon's not easy to catch and I'm pretty sure it would make good bait." Suddenly Mark's detector beeped and said, "Yes, finally, they're coming." "Great," said Dallas, "I'll warm up the tank." As soon as the tank was on, its cannon pointed at the trap and blew it and GeoGreymon up. "I didn't do it," said Dallas when the others started glaring at him.

Matt and the tamers minus Rika who had not arrived yet, came into view. Dallas pressed some buttons on his remote. "They won't like this." he said with a smirk, confirming the new orders."

--

Matt looked around. "Er...wheres the digimon? We're short one rampager here." he said, confused. Veemon started glaring. "Its that creep again." he said pointing at where Mark n co were trying to get out of sight. "Oh great." Matt said bored, pulling out one of his guns before calling "Boiled or fried, boys? Your choice if you dun get lost."

The three bio-hybrids laughed out loud. "Don't laugh, we've got you outgunned." "I disagree with that," said Mark as he made the tank's barrel point at the group, "I believe we've got you outgunned."

"Oh nuts." Said Matt sulkily till Takato had the idea to push him down, just before the tank sent a shell over the groups head. Matt fired a few shots while Takato and Henry digivolved Terriermon and Guilmon to Wargrowlmon and Rapidmon. Matt grinned when he saw them. "Would you be so kind as to turn that tank into scrap please?" he asked them with a grin.

Rapidmon and WarGrowlmon nodded and fired their Miracle Missile and Radiation Blade attacks at it, but it immediately fired two AA rockets to counter it. "Nice counter," said Don. "I didn't do anything," said Mark. Dallas was shaking his remote which said 'Connection failure...autopilot online.' "Er...guys?" he said as his teammates cheered when the tank tagged WarGrowlmon with two more rockets as well as shrugging off Matt's particle rifle. "Whats that thing made from? Adamantine?" Matt yelled as another round bounced off. before running to where Veemon was guarding Calumon.

Matt ran over to the trash cans Veemon and Calumon were hiding behind and asked, "You guys okay?" "We're fine, but I think that tank's getting out of control," said Veemon. A whirring sound caught their ears and Matt turned to see the tank heading for him like a steamroller. "Oh cr…" he began before he grabbed Calumon and got out the way along with Veemon. He put Calumon down gently then reached for his rocket rifle…and found it gone.

He looked back and saw a flat hunk of metal in the middle of a track mark that was the remains of his rifle. "Oh great. If I live through this I'm gonna kick Mr Blacks butt." He said as the Tank turned and aimed at them. "Give up yet?" came Marks voice from behind it. Dallas's voice sounded next "Hey tamers…call your little pets off or your new friend gets slagged."

Matt was having a rather hard time coming up with a reply with the tank's cannon pointed right at his face. However, no one noticed Dallas banging on the remote, trying to get the tank under his control again.

Matt stared. "Do they have to draw it out?" he muttered. The tank suddenly rotated the turret 180 degree's...right at the hybrids, much to matt's surprise (and mirth). "Dallas? What're you doing?" said Don, backing up. Dallas said "Its not me. The computers locked me out." The turret began to glow as it charged up a round. Mark said "I hate to say I told you but..." Dallas snapped "Then don't." The tank then fired, blowing the Hybrids backwards about 60 feet. Matt grinned. "Well...that was unexpected." he said

As soon as the smoke was clear, the tank turned and fired a different kind of missile at Rapidmon and WarGrowlmon. As soon as it hit them, they turned back into their Rookie state. The tank was about to finish them off when a beeping sound was heard in its cockpit, then the tank turned around and rolled away. Matt realised he'd been shaking from sheer adrenaline...oh and the fear of being blown to atoms. "Is...is everyone ok?" he said weakly, watching the tank roll round a corner and out of sight.

"I think so," said Guilmon, "where's that tank going?" "I think that was its power is getting low so it must be going somewhere to refuel." Said Matt "Where would that be?" asked Terriermon. "The refinery," said a voice. They turned to see Rika, "Sorry I'm late, it's a long way from where I live." Matt waved. "Its fine…we just got owned anyway…that things a juggernaut…" he suddenly paled "And god knows what it'll do once its gotta full tank of gas." He said. "We gotta go stop it…before it refuels."

**Tokyo Refinery.**

The Achilles tank drove through the feeble chain link fence, scattering the few security guards on shift and ignoring the revolver rounds fired at it. The humans could wait till he's drunk his fill and stopped the annoying beeping. The digimon personality in the computer, known as Tankmon, was not happy. While the 'body' the strange hybrids had given him was much more powerful then he had been, it had limitations, such as ammo. He felt a inkling of pride, Zhuqiaomon would surely reward him if he went back and finished off the tamers after he stopped that damn fuel alarm.

--

Matt looked round the corner of the trashed gates into the refinery. "We're in luck...no hands for…oh that's cheating." He said as the Achilles tank unfolded into its mecha mode, which reminded Matt of Tankmon on one of his modify cards. The tank then proceeded to rip a fuel pipe open and moved so the fuel went into the open fuel hatch.

The tank as it turned, noticed them and fired its rockets at their direction. The group scattered and tried to attack from different sides. The three Ultimate Digimon tried attacking it from different sides, but it countered their attacks with a blast from its cannon. The three came together to form the Trinity Force, but the tank hit them with its de-digivolution missile and turned them back into Rookies.

As this went on, Matt was racking his brains. He'd read about the Achilles tank somewhere and its weaknesses. "Hey, Matt…its your worlds tank. How do we stop it?" said Rika as Renamon fired a diamond storm into the back of the tank as it aimed at Guilmon. The shots must have hit something as a jet of almost white vapour shot outwards. "Thats it…the coolant…Veemon? Stay with calumon…." Veemon looked gloomy but nodded. Matt grinned. "Hey…I do this for a living." He said, before running towards a ladder up to a walkway as the now very upset tank attempted to swat Renamon to the ground, firing the arm mouted gattling lasers as it did.

Matt climbed onto the walkway and waited until the tank was within jumping range. Then Matt jumped and grabbed onto the cannon. "OK, let's tough you are-are-are," the last part was somewhat garbled because the cannon started spinning at a faster speed than Matt would have anticipated. Eventually, his fingers lost their grip and Matt was hurled off. "Ok…pretty tough." He said, firing his particle beam at the back of the tank before it could turn and was rewarded with another burst of coolant. "One left…uh oh!" Matt said, seeing the cannon stop spinning…aiming at HIM! He turned and ran, getting a few metres before an explosion lifted him off his feet. He shook the stars from his vision to see the tank bearing down on him. He tried to get up only to see some debris had pinned his leg. "Not good." He said and started firing into the front of the tank, desperately.

The blasts bounced off of the tank's Digizoid armor and the cannon started warming up again. "Matt!" cried Veemon as Calumon's symbol began to glow. Suddenly Veemon was surrounded by a fiery light as he called, "Veemon digivolve to... Flamedramon!" Matt closed his eyes and was shocked to feel something grab him and pull him not only free but from the rush of air, into the sky too. He opened his eyes to see a blue dragon digimon with flame style armour on.

"Veemon?" he said, confused as the digimon landed out of the tanks line of sight before letting him go. "Yeah. I digivolved." Said Veemon/Flamedramon. Matt grinned. "Thanks for the save…I dun think being a pancake would have suited me…plus if I get killed my sister will resurrect me just so she can too." He said. Matt got up to get back in the fray when Flamedramon stopped him. "You nearly got blasted. Let me handle this guy." He said to his tamer. Matt hesitated then nodded. "The coolant units are on the back…hit him there." Flamedramon nodded and leapt out of cover

The tank's cannon and weapon arms followed Flamedramon, shooting blasts and shells after him. But Flamedramon always managed to keep one step ahead of the blasts. He finally managed to get behind the tank, leaping over the machines head to land perfectly behind it. Then he pointed his fist at it and called, "FIRE ROCKET!" Fireballs shot out and struck the tank where the steam blasts have been coming from.

The last coolant core burst with a loud 'HSSSSSSSSSSSS!' and the tank seemed to start to glow. A shimmering shape shot out of the shape as cracks in the chassis appeared, spilling white light and flame out. "Oh nuts…RUUUUN!" shouted Matt, limping for the cover of a loading dock. The tamers and their digimon also followed, scattering just as the tank blossomed into a blue fireball, sending parts flying everywhere.

--

The shimmering shape finally settled down outside the refineries perimeter fence and took the shape of Tankmon who grumbled. "Cursed humans. I coulda taken them…at least I got some humans." He said and was interrupted as three digimon came into view. "You were saying? Said BioChameleonmon in an annoyed tone of voice…

**Tokyo Docks, Warehouse area.**

Soon afterwards, the group were back at the warehouse Matt was in. By then, Flamedramon had regressed back to Veemon. After they've got their breaths back, Matt said, "Nice work back there, Veemon. You did awesome." Veemon grinned proudly "Heh…thanks, Matt." He said. As Veemon went over to talk to the other digimon, Matt noticed Rika waving him over. "Whats wrong? We won. Its celebration time." He said happily. "I know," said Rika, "but something's bothering me." "What is it?" asked Matt. "Flamedramon's an Armor-level Digimon, which means he could have only digivolved if Veemon or you had a Digimental. But Veemon evolved straight to him instead of ExVeemon."

Matt looked over at Veemon. "You sure?" he said to Rika, thinking back to the lab he'd found Veemon in, all those days ago _'What did they do to you? What the hell is that madman up to?'_

**Exo-Gene Facility 'Lab 1'**

Kurata was working on something. One of the Gatomon his troups have captured was going through the final process of 'refining'. After the last of the shocks were administered, she was now being brought to the Digimental of Sincerity. A assistant looked glumly at the Gatomon. "Sir...system is ready." he said as the digimental was moved into a separate pod by a mechanical arm.

"Begin the digivolution," said Kurata. A green light surrounded Gatomon and seemingly merged with her outline. Then the outline grew and changed shaped before it faded. Now Gatomon was a Digimon that resembled a Japanese dancer with a cherry blossom-like head. Then a needle was stabbed into its back and it was reverted to data. The assistant sighed and checked the readout. "Sir…the data is good…but we don't have anyone in our staff that are compatible." Kurata looked over as the Data was downloaded into a Nanotech serum for administering later and said "So?" The assistant sighed. "It could kill an unsuitable host or send them murderously psychotic…I'm sure you don't want to waste your…product." Said the assistant, pronouncing the last word with distaste.

Kurata sighed. "Fine…send it to storage and check upon the other project." He said. As the assistant took the serum capsule and left, Kurata turned on the NSC's soldier for hire database and began looking at their list of the best and brightest. Maybe it was time his hybrids got some professional backup and who knows…maybe the lucky mercenary would be compatible…

**Another chapter, another future problem for Matt and the tamers. It looks like Kurata's getting sick of Matt being a spanner in his plans. Please R&R.**


	5. Chapter 5

Digimon, Dr Kurata and digimon tamers is property of Bandai

**Digimon, Dr Kurata and digimon tamers is property of Bandai.**

**Nullspace, Matt, Exo-Gene inc and Balwak station are my property. Mark is the property of my co-author, Cydra. **

**C.P.S Chronicles: Digital Conspiracy**

**Chapter 5 'Unforeseen consequences' **

**Tokyo Docks, Cargo loading area**

Matt sat on top of one of the huge containers, waiting. It had been a week since veemon had digivolved and it had come in useful during the few bio-emerges. Matt however was still rusty in the digi-modfying department so had asked Rika to give him some more pointers. He'd left Veemon sleeping at the ship, the guy needed it, that was for sure. He'd been waiting for half an hour already when Renamon materialized behind him. "Hey there." Said Matt, not turning around. He'd gotten used to Renamon's tricks by now.

"Good to see you've settled down some," said Renamon, "before, you'd pull out a gun and start shooting everything." Matt shrugged. "Now I wait to see who I should shoot beforehand...is less messy...what's taking Rika so long?" he said before adding as a joke "She isn't making an assault course for me is she?" "Something like that," said Renamon. Matt stared at her and said, "You're joking, right?" Before he remembered the last session. "You're not, are you." He said, getting to his feet. "Ah well. Veemon won't be coming. He's still knackered after that Vilemon attacked yesterday."

"Don't worry, I'm kidding," said Renamon, "Rika's at the docks, there'll be plenty of room for you to train." Matt sighed with relief and pulled a oval board off his back. "Hoverboard...from the ship...looks like most my stuffs ok...the auto-doc keeps singing the NSC anthem and throwing scalpels at the wall if you mention the word cheese though...we're not sure why." said Matt, getting on the now hovering grav-board and setting off down the docks to where Rika was.

**Exo-Gene Facility 'Lab 1'**

Kurata looked at the mercenary in front of his desk. Her name was Sonya Kerris, one of thebest freelancers around. "Look...the intel I got given is rubbish...I need a description for ascended sake." she ranted angrily. "Don't worry," said Kurata, "you'd be able to spot that mercenary instantly. The Digimon that escaped our labs should be there, so hit the human with the Digimon."

"Fine...I want two of those hunter choppers to go along...feel free to refuse...you can just find another guy." she said sweetly. "Another thing...why the special ammo? a 90 cal round should deal with him so why the hyperdermic dart?" "Let's just say that this merc has been a pain in my side for a while and I want this to be extra... memoriable." Sonya shrugged and left. Not long after that, Kurata's computer beeped. He clicked an icon and Devimon's face appeared.

Devimon glared. "Where is my digimon? You told me your little project would be ready two days ago." Kurata glared back and said, "If it's anyone's Digimon, it should be mine. I've gone through all the hard work of collecting the data from those other Digimon and extracted the core data. These kids are being quite adapt of getting in the way." Devimon looked thoughtful before saying with a sneer. "It should be expected from you. What are you doing about it?" Kurata looked up as a VTOL transport went by his window, flanked by two of the lab's automated hunter-choppers. "I've taken care of it."

"Sending more of your so-called 'men' to do the job?" said Devimon sarcastically, "If it was me, I'd be able to wipe them out on the first try." "You?" said Kurata mockingly, "You're just a Champion-level Digimon, those kids' Digimon can Digivolve up Mega. You wouldn't stand a chance." Kurata hung up, having had enough. "That little freak. Why did I agree to help him?"

**Tokyo Docks, Cargo loading area.**

Matt shot round the corner on the board and skidded to a neat halt in front of Rika and smirked. Rika just rolled her eyes. "If you think that'd impress me, think again. It takes a lot to do that." Matt shrugged and said, "So what's this lesson about?" "I was thinking it was time we started working on more defensive stuff. Where's Veemon?"

"Utterly pooped. If he does more training he'll probably delete from exhaustion." said Matt, getting out his cards. "So...what's first? I think I understand the data, virus, vaccine thing now." "Right, there's a roughly rock-paper-scissors thing to it. Vaccine beats virus, virus beats data, and data beats vaccine. But it's only a tiny advantage. Anything can change the turnout of the battle."

Matt nodded and suddenly cocked his head. "Say…do you hear anything?" he said as a drone slowly came into hearing level. Three vessels came into view, the choppers at the side immediately firing a storm of plasma bolts. "BEHIND THE CONTAINER!" shouted Matt, doing a crazy tapdance to avoid the weapon fire.

On the VTOL, Sonya sniggered, and then swore. "Dammit. which one?" she muttered, loading the dart into her rifle. She switched the rifle point between the two humans until he heard Rika yell, "Renamon, use Diamond Storm on those guns!" "That must be her," said Sonya, "I thought she'd be older."

The diamond storm attacks bounced off the choppers cardium armour. "Dammit. Smegging Hunter choppers." He said before turning to Rika. "You know its me they're after. I'll lead em away from you. As soon as they chase me, get outta here." He said, getting his grav-board ready.

Matt hovered away from the dock, but the fire didn't focus on Matt so much. Sonya aimed at Rika's neck and said, "End of the line, mercenary," before pulling the trigger. The dart, filled with a bright orange liquid, flew out the gun and plunged into Rika's arm, instantly dispensing its load into her blood. Matt heard the guns bang and realised why the choppers weren't on aiming form.

"Dammit…stupid, stupid rookie." He said to himself before grabbing a post and using the momentum to spin round and back the way he'd come, confusing the choppers into almost hitting each other as they turned to follow. The VTOL came into view, hovering over the container he'd left. "Little cowards. Shoot my friends to get to me will ya?" he said, getting more speed.

--

The A.I's on the choppers were now confused. They'd successfully herded the target back into the sniper mercenary's sight but the other human was no longer registering. They immediately powered up their weapons as they detected a new digimon signal appearing…a Halsemon. This could threaten the targets wellbeing and orders were for the target to be alive on delivery. They swooped round to intercept and neutralize.

--

Rika stumbled as she felt something sharp hit her neck. Her eyes clouded over as she fell onto her knees. Meanwhile, Sonya was talking into her communicator, "Sir, I got the mercenary." "Excellent work, Sonya," said Kurata's voice. "I have to admit, she's a lot less intimidating that I thought she'd be." "Well, that's a very common mistake. I myself have underestimated... Wait, what? HER?! You imbecile! You've got the wrong person!" "But you said shoot the one with the Digimon." "I meant that seventeen-year-old boy!" "Oh, he's over there." "Then shoot him with the backup dart! NOW!"

Sonya wasn't sure, but she thought she heard someone else laughing in the background. Someone with a creepy voice. Then she turned to look for the boy, but he had apparently disappeared. She was preparing the second dart when something rocked the ship hard and caused the dart to slip and pierce her wrist. "Oh crap," she muttered. She turned to see him climbing up into the back of the chopper. "Hi. Thought I'd drop in and kick your butt, you little coward." He said before lunging at her.

--

Meanwhile the Hunter-choppers had found the new signal. With a whine of charging weapons they fired a full volley into the newcomer. However, the newcomer moved too fast to be hit and then it called, "TEMPEST WING!" A small tornado formed and hit the copters, rocking Matt out of the one he was in and into the bay. Sonya breathed a sigh and looked at the pilot. "Lets get out of here…" she said. Meanwhile, the choppers circled the new target, firing wildly, finally scoring some good hits, causing the newcomer to become engulfed in light and grow smaller. They were about to finish it when they detected their escortee leaving and turned to follow.

Matt dragged himself out the bay to see the choppers leaving. "YEAH. YOU'D BETTER RUN!" he yelled angrily before heading for where Rika had been. "RIKA. RENAMON! YOU GUYS OK?" He called as he ran up.

Rika had plucked something that was stuck in her neck and looked at it. Matt recognized it, it was a sniper dart designed to inject its target with some type of serum. "What did they do to you?" said Matt in horror. "I'm not sure," said Rika, "one second, I'm on the ground, feeling naucious. The next second, I'm up in the air and blowing away copters." Matt stared at her. "That was you?" he said, sceptically before looking at the serum dart and back at Rika. "I'm not sure about this…looks like it was some kinda nano-injection…must be faulty." He said, pocketing the dart as Renamon jumped into view. "They've gone back out to sea..." she said before staring at Rika funnily.

"What's wrong?" asked Matt. "Her scent's different somehow," said Renamon, "she still has her human scent, but now she also smells like a Digimon." Matt pulled out the serum and looked again. Now the coding seemed familier. It was a standard code for a gene modifier nano-serum. "That serum was probably designed to turn someone into a Bio-Hybrid. I hope the computer's doctor is undamaged enough to diagnose and cure her." He said.

He noticed Rika's shocked expression. "Don't worry. The NSC are good at genetic cures. This should be a piece of cake to fix."

**N.S.S 'SkyRaid', Tokyo Warehouse District.**

"What do you mean you can't fix it, you overgrown…toaster you?" yelled Matt at the mess of arms and tools that was the ships auto-doc. "I'm sorry, sir but the nanite abort serum is not listed in my file. Military gene mod nanites have not been used for 20 years." Said the auto-doc calmly as Rika, Veemon and Renamon watched.

"But don't nanites have some sort of abort code you can radio to them?" asked Matt. "Correct." "How long will it take for you to find it?" "An aproximate maximum of 1.2 thousand years." Said the auto-doc calmly. "WHAT!?" yelled Rika, "I gonna die of old age before that!"

The Auto-doc wasn't phased by Rika's outburst and replied "It's a 10-digit code, there are several thousand possible combinations," before adding "On the plus side, you may have advantages you did not have before." Matt glared "Thats not the damn point. Is there ANYTHING you can do?" he said The auto-doc opened a small hatch and a bottle of sky blue pills was deposited. "Nano-inhibitor medicaton should negate it for a while…One tablet, once a day. Do not miss a dose." Said the computer in a tone that seemed like it was simply prescribing asprins.

Rika groaned and said, "I'll be taking these things for the rest of my life." "But what about those other Bio-Hybrids?" asked Veemon, "if they made the serum, shouldn't they have the abort code?" Matt was about to tell Veemon to be quiet but realized what he was saying was true. "That's actually a pretty good idea," he said.

"One problem," said Renamon, "we have no idea where their base is and it'll be near impossible to get in there and find the abort code without being caught." "Impossible's what I do," said Matt, "you should hear my sister, 'How could you possibly get that mess all over the ceiling?' We'll need a plan though…we can't actually stroll up and ask to borrow their medibay for a day. Just head home for now, Rika. Probably a good idea not to tell the others though." He said.

Rika nodded and pocketed the tablets, "I'm going home." "Don't forget," said the computer, "take one before bed and one after getting up." "Yeah, yeah," Rika was clearly in no mood to talk.

Matt watched her and Renamon going back into the ship and sitting down at the medibays computer. "Lets see if we can't get lucky with the code." He muttered, starting to type. He'd end up working on it for hours till he'd be found much later by Veemon, face down on the keyboard and snoring heavily.

Rika headed home and after saying good-night to her mother and grandmother, she went to her room. "Rika," said Renamon, "is there anything I can do?" "Not if you can debug nanobots," said Rika, "I just need some sleep." "I understand," said Renamon. Rika swallowed one of the tablets and then laid down in her bed to sleep.

--

Matt woke up with a small scream when the newly made bio-field tracking program went off in his ear. "Mental note. Turn down alarm volume." he moaned as his head felt like it had gone three rounds with a battlecruiser and lost. Veemon had also been woken up by the alarm and was standing by the hatch, yawning. "Lets go...Sooner we deal with this dude, the sooner we get back." Matt said, drowsily. He pulled out his old mobile. The thing had been in his pocket when he'd got warped to nullspace and had been upgraded to find numbers. Just say the name of the person. He dialed up Takato first, barely able to say thr name due to yawns.

--

Rika was dozing peacefully until she awoken by her cellphone. She rubbed the sand out of her eyes and answered it, "Hello?" A few seconds later, she was wide awake and getting dressed. "C'mon, Renamon, there's a digital field," she called. She ran out of the room, forgetting the bottle of tablets on the dresser.

--

Matt and Veemon met up with Takato and Guilmon as they headed towards the distant Digital field. "Couldn't this guy have waited till a little later? I was up all night looking for the…" he said, stopping just before he spilled the beans. Veemon came to the rescue and said "…Laser…the one that blew up the warehouse door last week." Matt nodded slowly. "Yeees…that is correct." He said slowly as if reading from a script.

Fortunately, the attention immediately shifted to the Digimon that just bio-emerged. It looked like a teddy bear someone threw away a long time ago with black fur, a tattered red cape, and a set of claws strapped to its left hand. Matt checked his Digivice and said, "WaruMonzaemon? What the heck does that mean?" Veemon reqognized it however, backing up a bit. "I know that guy…He tried to delete me back when I was an in-training." He said. Matt shrugged. "That was then and this is now." He said sagely. "You're all grown up now…you could kick his teddy butt easily…now then. Digimodify! Divolution activate!"

However, WaruMonzaemon spotted Veemon just before he became Flamedramon. "Well, well, if isn't the wimpy little Veemon that used to be my punting ball months ago. Where have you been?" A small rocket shot into Wwerumonzaemons side with a bang, "He's with me, teddy dufus." said Matt holding his blaster. WeruMonzaemon looked a bit miffed at getting a rocket in his arm. "I always knoew a weakling like you would end up with a human...an annoying one at that." he said, recieving an 'OI!' from Matt

WaruMonzaemon cried out "CUSTOM CLAW!" and the claws on his left hand grew larger. "BEAR CLAW!" He stabbed forward with the extended claws. The gang moved out of the way just in time, but the claws left very deep holes in the ground. Flamedramon yelled 'FIRE ROCKET!', firing a hail of fireballs inro WeruMonzaemon's back. However, this did little except to upset the teddy bear.

Matt pulled out two golf ball sized devices and winked at Takato. "I made these a few days ago...should even the odds." he said, tossing one. A warning label declaring E.M.P was seen on the orbs. WaruMonzaemon watched the tiny devices fly through the air. "What kind of party gimmicks are those?" Suddenly the devices let out a loud high-pitched sound. WareMonzaemon screamed in pain as his data shimmered.

"E.M.P grenades. Should make him think twice." Said Matt, proudly as WeruMonzaemon shook the effects off and Henry turned up. "Hey there. Where's Rika?" he asked, pulling the pin on another grenade and throwing it. WaruMonzaemon growled and yelled "HEARTBREAK ATTACK!" This caused several broken heart shapes to fly at the gang who quickly separated before they could hit. "Hold still!" yelled WaruMonzaemon, but then several diamond shards hit him in the back.

Matt smirked. "Never mind." he said as WeruMonzaemon turned to face Renamon before remembering he was holding a ticking grenade. He threw it into a bin and ducked, the charge blowing the bins top clean off. "Obviously, the grenades need a bit of work." he said to Takato and Henry as their digimon launched their own attacks at WeruMonzaemon. "He's pretty tough." said Matt

Suddenly WaruMozaemon started dancing around in a crazy way. "What is he doing?" asked Matt, "throwning a tantrum?" Then the Puppet Digimon yelled, "NASTY STEP!" and an eerie beam came from between the stitches on his stomach. That one actually hit Flamedramon and sent him tumbling heads over heels. "Okay, time for another EMP," said Matt. Before he could pull the pin though, another of the shots almost hit him, causing him to drop the grenade which rolled away. "Not good. Has anyone got a plan B?" he said nervously.

"Hey, what's this funny thingamabob?" said a voice. Matt turned to see Impmon fiddling with the EMP. "Careful with that!" he yelled but Impmon had accidentally pulled the pin. The charge went off and every Digimon in the area winced in pain, including WaruMonzaemon. "Oh smeg." Matt said, running over to Impmon before firing some shots at WeruMonzaemon to stop the ultimate taking interest in the digimon. "Why does my luck always stink?" he said as the angry Digimon turned towards him. "Run to cover before I kick you to it." Said Matt to Impmon before giving up, grabbing the dazed Digimon and running for said cover. "Getting over that," said Matt, "we can get WaruMonzaemon right now while he's checking he's still on one p…"

"Hey! What's up with Rika?" interrupted Impmon. Matt turned to see that Rika was holding her head in pain. "Uh-oh, I hope she took those tablets." Matt muttered. A glow started coming from her Digivice that Matt was sure wasn't normal. Matt ran over to her with Impmon in tow when Flamedramon caused a distraction with another fire rocket attack. "Rika? Tell me you took those tablets." He said worriedly. "No, I forgot," she moaned before digital light surrounded her. "I was afraid of that," said Matt.

The light completely covered her before dispersing to show an eagle-like digimon with four legs, tubes down its body, and a tube on the back of its red-helmeted helmet. "BioHalsemon!" yelled the Digimon and flew up into the air. Matt dived for cover as the digimon Rika had become took to the air. "I am so dead." He muttered. WeruMonzaemon immediately took an interest in her. "Oh…you want some too? HEARTBREAK ATTACK!" he said firing his attack at Rika.

BioHalsemon weaved through the attacks with ease and yelled "EAGLE EYE" Two red beams shot from her eyes and took on the form of arrows as they headed straight towards WaruMonzaemon. WareMonzaemon was hit between the stitches and became paralyzed. Matt heard Flamedramon land beside him.

"The creeps all yours." said Matt, aiming down his blasters sights. Flamedramon smirked and charged up a fire rocket. Matt waved at the WeruMonzaemon. "Bye Bye, smeghead." he said and fired at the same time as Flamedramon, both shots incinerating the digimon into a data cloud. Flamedramon was about to load the data when Matt noticed Halsemon coming into what looked like an attack run. "Er...Rika?" he asked nervously

BioHalsemon glared down at the group before shouting, "MACH IMPULSE!" Blades of pressurized air came out of her wings and flew straight at the gang, who quickly scattered to avoid becoming mincemeat. "She's gone nuts!" yelled Impmon. "We need to bring her down," said Matt, "but without destroying her. Easier said then done."

"Leave that to me," said Renamon. Her paws became covered in blue flames before she shouted, "POWER PAW!" and leapt up into the air. She then punched and kicked BioHalsemon several times, before delivering one final blow to the tube on her head. BioHalsemon was knocked unconscious by the attack and started falling to the ground, her body shrinking as she went. Renamon quickly landed and ran to catch her falling partner. However, BioHalsemon didn't turn back into Rika, rather she now resembled Hawkmon except she was wearing her shirt and belt and she had more feathers in the belt on her head, similar to her human form's hair.

"Uh, why did Rika turn into a Digimon?" asked Henry. "She got hit by a dart from one of Kurata's thugs," said Matt, "I think it's best that we wait for her to wake up." "Hopefully she'll not be as grouchy as when she normally wakes up," said Takato. Matt nodded, not holding out much hope that her temper would be improved by this transformation when his comm beeped. It was the Auto-Doc. "Sir…I have just finished my tests on several of the serum sample…I think you should bring Miss Nonaka back to the ship at once…she should hear this." The doc said before hanging up

**N.S.S 'SkyRaid', Tokyo Dockyards Warehouse**

Matt, the tamers and Impmon who seemed to have unofficially attacked to the group stood in the medibay. Rika was still unconscious while the auto-doc powered up a display. "As you know, Military gene mods are illegal…however there is a very good reason for this…" he began and was interrupted.

"Which is?" asked Henry. "Well, the additional DNA often comes with a consciousness of its own. That consciousness comes in conflict with the host's own consciousness, causing several complications. It is often common for the additional consciousness to supplant the original consciousness whether it is intentionary or not." Said the Auto-Doc. "Did anyone get any sense out of that?" asked Terriermon. Matt had, though he wished he hadn't. "It's genetic memory. The digimons minds taking over…" He said. The auto-doc seemed to be pleased. "Quite correct. I should have detected this sooner…oh, she appears to be reviving." Said the auto-doc as Rika or whoever was currently in her bodies driving seat awoke.

She looked around in confusion and asked, "Where am I?" The voice didn't sound like Rika's so it was evidently Hawkmon's. "I'll handle this," said Matt. He walked over to Hawkmon and said, "Now this going to be hard to believe but..." "FEATHER STRIKE!" The Bird Digimon threw her several head feathers at Matt who was actually knocked back by that. "Never been hit that hard by a feather before." He muttered.

"What happened? Why's everything so much bigger?" asked Rika's voice. "Rika, is that you?" asked Matt. Rika responded with a right hook that sent him to the floor. "Yup, that's her." "Why did you have to set off that EMP? Now look at me! I'm a talking chicken!" Matt rubbed his cheek and said, "It wasn't me, it was Impmon." Impmon shrugged and said, "Sorry about that, toots." "TOOTS!?" yelled Rika. Matt moved with near warp speed behind one of the tables and it suddenly seemed that Impmon was very alone. "Please don't injure him too much." Said Matt and cowered as Rika glared momentarily in his direction and added "If you don't mind." In a tiny voice. Impmon backed away. "Easy there. How I to know that ball was an…eee em peee grenade?" he said.

Rika could have probably done another feather strike attack but didn't, falling back to the tried and tested method of beating the smeg out of Impmon. "I really think she should stay calm. Stress might destabilize her mental control." Said the Auto-Doc, calmly to Matt. Matt shrugged. "Er? Can someone calm her down…or something?" he said and could have sworn he'd heard the auto-doc say 'Wuss' quietly.

Renamon was the only one who was brave enough to approach Rika. "Rika," she said in a surprisingly calm voice, "I know you have a considerable ammount of stress from this, but I suggest you calm down before you revert Impmon back into data. It isn't like you to lose your temper. That's normally Takato's thing." "Hey! Leave me out of this!" yelled Takato. Veemon spoke up. "Ya know...I don't think that hawkmon seems too bad." Matt turned in shock. "It tried to kill me...twice." he said. Veemon shrugged. "She seemed more frightened to me just now."

Fortunately, Rika had calmed down at this point, regaining her quiet dignity and grace. This contrasted sharply to the incredibly-bruised form of Impmon on the floor. "You should known better than to do that," said Guilmon, "Rika does have her pride." "Is there a digi-doctor in the house?" he moaned. Matt looked down at Impmon, wincing before saying. "Good news though. I got a good plan to get to Lab 1's auto-doc and fix this." He said in a lighter tone. "I can rig up a fake signal, then I can jack the teams trans…" The Auto-Doc butted in saying. "Its no longer that simple. From my scans, Miss Nonaka has less then 12 hours before Hawkmon completely subsumes her personality permanently." Matt flopped down, feeling defeated at this.

"Like I'm going to let that happen," said Hawkmon, jumping into control. "Well, there's not much you can do," said Matt. "That's what you think," said Hawkmon, "I know all about Kurata's base. I could easily lead you to the medical lab if we get there. By the way, they would have sensed Rika's evolution and they'll be sending a chopper to pick her up." Matt grinned at this. "Oh really. Just as well...I wonder which of those idiots they'll send." he said to himself, just as a alarm went off. "Caution. Perimeter breached. Incoming Exo-Gene VTOL." chimed the main computer. "Least they're punctual." said Terriermon. Matt puilled a shotgun out a locker. "I should put up a keep out sign." he said.

Mark and his team however were grumbling at being woken up. "Sir? Why the hell couldn't this have waited till a more normal morning time?" said one of the soldiers, checking his guns clip. Ahead, the Skyraid looked surprisingly innocent. "I don't like this sir. These CPS mercs have a wierd sense of humour when it comes to booby traps." "We're not after him, we're after the new bio-hybrid. If we happen to capture him or any of those other Tamers as well, kudos for us. Just don't let him lead you anywhere. I know for a fact that he has a particularly strong sense of humor."

The pilot, who'd followed, stopped dead suddenly. "Uh oh...I stepped on something...its beeping." Mark sighed. "I said be careful. Just stay there. We'll defuse it later." The pilot looked around nervously. "I dun mind you waiting." he said in a tiny voice. "What other kind of tricks he'd have," said another soldier. "Probably anything from laser trippers to paint cans on strings," said Mark. "What about hotfoots?" "Hotfoots? What makes you say that?" "Your shoe's on fire." As Mark flailed around screaming, the tiny flamethrower folded back into its receptacle which resembled a tin can. The next trick turned out to be more to the point, a small tank chassis about the size of a small dog, with a chaingun on top, rumbled out of a pile of boxes by the warehouse door and aimed at the group. Matt walked into view, wearing a huge grin, "Oh…nice of you to drop by. Just the idiots I wanted to see." He said horribly.

Mark, who had just managed to douse his foot, said, "Is that really the best you've got, toy robots?" "Well no, I do have this too," said Matt, pulling out a large bazooka. He watched the troops scattered and pulled the trigger. A small flag with the word 'Bang' on it popped out. "Oops, wrong setting." Mark had hybrid evolved when Matt said. "Got it now, and blew Mark into one of the other warehouses. One of the troopers peered out and said "Ok...new guy quits." threw down his gun and legged it. Matt walked up to Mark and aimed his blaster in his face. "Please surrender. I'm very tired and stressed and am not in the mood to hurt you." Mark groaned "Then what was that about?" he said, referring to the bazooka. Matt shrugged "Getting your full attention. I want to borrow something of yours..." he said and explained, hoping to appeal to Marks honourable side, if any was there.

Mark frowned and said, "That shot was meant for you. In fact, I'm not sure a child could handle it. I don't care what your image of me is, I don't like seeing the innocent getting harmed." "Does this mean I can use your copter." "Well, I might give it you, but I think it'd be better if it looked like you took it from me, for both of our sake." A minute later, Mark was tied up with all the other troops. "That's pretty convincing," he said. Matt grinned. "One more thing. You need a suitable injury." he said sighting down his gun. "I do take requests." Next to Mark, the pilot had fainted.

**25 miles off Japanese Coastline. Unknown course**

Matt set the chopper to auto pilot and turned to the others. He'd put on the pilots helmet. Luckily, Exo-Gene didn't have a dress code for its security units. "Ok, the choppers will probably be taken to cargo when we land. I'll have to get out before then, so Me n Rika can head down. I'll say Veemons a new catch and needs a checkup." At that Veemon stared. "But…" he started but Matt said. "They won't get you. We'll all be gone before they catch on."

"Henry and Takato. You should be able to get out ok in the cargo hold. Just drone loaders if it's a standard facility." He continued. He turned to Impmon and said, "Now Impmon, you're going to be our lookout, anything seem amiss, just send us a flare." "Like this?" asked Impmon, shooting a flame from his finger. "Yes, like that, now while you guys memorize your roles, I'm going to change the shirt Impmon just burned."

--

The chopper's radio began to fill with chatter a few minutes later. Matt sat back down and stared ahead. A disused oil platform sat in the water ahead. "Here we go." He said and clicked the radio on. "This is Transport Alpha 12 to control. Requesting approach." He said and waited for the response. As the chopper flew over, he saw several nasty looking AA plasma batteries hidden among debris on the deck. "I really hope they go for this." He muttered.

He landed the chopper then opened the cargo door. He and Rika, who was in BioHalsemon form, stepped out, with Veemon in handcuffs in front of him. "We caught this little guy while we were picking her up," said Matt, "he'll need a checkup before we take him to the lab." "Suit yourself," said the guard in charge. Matt was about to lead the way to the lift the guard had pointed at when someone said "Hey…hey you." Matt turned to see a captain advancing. "You didn't get the orders? That species has to be taken straight to the labs. Orders of the doctor."

"Well, uh, we're taking him to the labs to be decontaminated." "Decontaminated?" "Yeah, there's no telling where he's been. For all I know, he's been rolling around in toxic waste." The captain sniffed and said, "Well, that would account for the smell," earning him a glare from Veemon. "Alright, but be quick about it."

The chopper began to be lowered down a shaft as the three got in the lift. The doors suddenly opened, apparently by themselves. The guard shrugged. "Damn out of date smeg." he muttered. When the doors shut, the gang let out a sigh. "Ok, Renamon. You can come out. Looks like a long trip down." said Matt. The windows showed that the lift had gone underwater and that this was a deep section of sea.

The lifts windows showed a vast facility spread out over the seabed. A second thicker shaft, linking to where the cargo area must be placed. The view vanished for a second before a vast entrance area came into view. "Impressive for an evil lair." said Matt to himself

Matt turned to BioHalsemon and said, "Think you can lead us to the med lab from here?" When she nodded, Matt said to Renamon and Veemon, "You two try not to attract attention. If someone comes, Renamon, vanish." Then the four of them continued down the corridor, unaware of another shadow on the wall. The shadow watched with red eyes and said to itself, "At last, I finally have them in my sights."

Matt didn't notice the shadow but he had the horrible feeling the group was being watched as they followed BioHalsemon. Also, the guards that spotted them seemed too tense. His sixth sense was beating a tattoo on his mind. "The sooner we're done here, the better I'll feel. This is too easy." He muttered, none of them noticing that the camera was following their movments.

**Lab one Cargo and loading area**

Takato, Henry, Terriermon and Guilmon, peered out of the chopper into the almost deserted cargo area before jumping out. Line upon line of combat vehicles and aircraft and even a few spaceships similar to the Skyraid sat, ready for use. The group headed out the area and were passing a security room when they heard voices arguing hotly.

"Are you really going to let that merc and those Digimon waltz on in?" yelled one of the captains, an older looking man with a face as hard as granite. "We would have apprehanded the minute they landed, but we have orders to let them. Straight from Kurata himself." Said the second captain, who looked younger then the first but bore a resemblness "Well I'm not letting that brat make a mess on my watch, I don't care if they are Kurata's orders."

"They're not just his orders, they're mine," said an extremely creepy voice that seemed to come out of nowhere. The two captains froze as a large demonic-looking Digimon appeared. The Digidestined and their tamers froze. 'IceDevimon?' thought Takato, 'I thought we destroyed him. Wait, his suit's the wrong color. Who is this guy?' A quick check on his D-Arc identified it as the original Devimon.

The first captain spoke up. "So you're with Kurata? Pardon me, SIR!" he said exaggerating the 'Sir' "But CPS don't train run of the mill. Trust me and my brother on this. He can and will be a wrench in your plan unless you let us deal with him."

Devimon glared down at them with such malevolence that it made then quake. "You think I'm not aware of that?" said the Fallen Angel Digimon. "The only reason I allowed them to come here is so I can get rid of them myself." "But they've got three Digimon, and you're only one," said the other captain. "The girl doesn't know her full powers yet and is incapable of using her Digivice at the moment. The boy barely knows how to fight with Digimon and his can only go up to the Armour level. But I can digivolve much higher than that."

The first captain said. "The mercs got EMP grenades. The weapon scanners picked em up." He said simply in the manner of laying down a deck of aces in poker. "You shouldn't underestimate CPS…there's a reason they have the major military contracts."

"And YOU shouldn't underestimate Digimon, especially me," said Devimon with the air of laying down a royal flush, "That mercenary will have no idea what he's up against, that's to my advantage. Besides, I've been wanting to test my strength for quite a while as well as see if he is truly capable of causing this much trouble." Then he vanished, leaving two confused captains.

**Meanwhile…**

The medical bay sign finally came into view, with only one sleepy guard at the post. "Finally...what's that noise?" he said as a beeping could be heard. Veemon whispered "I think its your D-Ark." he said pointing to Matt's digivice. Matt looked at it and pressed a button, causing Takato's face to appear on the tiny screen. "Not a good time." he whispered, looking at the guard who was looking at them in a funny way.

"Matt, we've got some really bad news," said Takato, "They know who you are and why you're here. The only reason they let you in is so Devimon can destroy you." Matt looked over at the guard who wasn't showing signs of overhearing the conversation. Matt and the group went in past him and as the door closed, the guard pulled out a comm unit. "They're in the area…I'll keep em here…"

--

As soon as the door was sealed, Matt pulled out a gun and aimed at the doctor on duty. 2Ok, man. In the operating room NOW!" The doctor was all too eager to respond but his assistant yelled into the intercom and the guard rushed in…only to be shot in the foot and then roundhouse kicked into the wall, which he slid down. He assistant paled and followed his boss in. "Well…" said Matt looking as the bays Auto doc slid an optic down to stare at them 2How may I help you?" it said in an amused voice.

Matt dragged BioHalsemon in front of the monitor and said, "This girl needs her nanites deactivated, now." BioHalsemon made a loud cough and said, "Oh, and can you separate the Digimon DNA back into its original body?" The computer beeped in confusion and said, "This is highly irregular, but achievable." Matt grinned "Good. She'd better be fine...both of them...otherwise I'll do some ICT work on your main server with a fireaxe and some EMP grenades. Comprende?" said Matt nastily before going over to Veemon and taking the cuffs off. Veemon added "And I'll help...what's ICT?" he said

If the Auto doc had a face, it would be covered with sweat right now. "Right away sir," it said, "she merely needs to stand in that chamber over there." It indicated a tall metal tube with a glass front. "How can I stand in there?" asked BioHalsemon, "it's too small." "Try standing on your hind legs for a while," said Matt, "and make it fast, I don't think we have much time." Matt was right. It seemed that the Captains had lost patience. The younger one could be heard haranguing some grunts as a glowing dot burned around the door. "Faster please." said Matt, digivolving veemon and taking cover.

BioHalsemon was trying to squeeze into the chamber, but she was far too big. "No good," she grunted, "I'm gonna have to de-digivolve." She quickly turned back into Hawkmon and went in. "Starting the procedure," said the Auto doc as the door closed. At the same time, the door blew in and several grunts poured through and met in succession, Renamon's power paw attack, Flamedramons flaming fist attack and enough lead from Matt's gun to supply a small pencil factory. Their leader, wearing a nametag saying 'Sgt Dante' on it suddenly looked very alone. "Oh smeg." He said, looking at his semi-conscious, charred and wounded men before slowly raising his hands.

"And keep them up there," said Matt. A few seconds later, the Auto doc beeped, "Separation complete." "Wow, that thing's a lot better than the one in the ship," said Veemon. "Don't remind me," said Matt. Rika still was in her rookie hybrid form but next to her a dazed Hawkmon sat. "Right…fetch the fireaxe." Matt said. The Autodoc piped up desperately "It takes while for the abort code to work…please don't hit me." Matt glared at it and finally said "Ok…now…we're off…if you set off an alarm…I will be back…ok?" The Autodoc made a whimpering noise. "What alarm?" it said innocently. Matt smiled. "Good robot." He said and went over to help Hawkmon out the tube while Rika was aided by Renamon. Dante chose to speak then "My bro, Alan'll kick your butts…if that devil guy doesn't get ya first…OOF!" he said as Matt calmly, without looking, stunned him. "What a dull person. Lets get out of here." He said.

As the five quickly left the medical lab, Rika was muttering bitterly. "Stupid machine," she grumbled, "can't do it all the way." "Cheer up," said Hawkmon, "it'll wear off soon." "It had better," said Rika, "I don't want to have to groom my feathers for the rest of my life." "Yeah, especially since they keep getting ruffled," said Veemon, earning a death glare from the both of them.

Matt grinned to himself. So much for a trap. If that Dante guy and his minions were the best Exo-Gene could afford, they might as well have a revolving door. He pressed some buttons on his D-Ark till Takato appeared on screen. "We're all done here…mostly. Meet us in the main lobby. The way should be past the security room."

He turned to Hawkmon. "You can crash in the ship till we work out how to get you home, if you wish." He said. The five of them started going back up the corridor they went through. As they went along, they got a very bad feeling they were being followed, although no one was there. Once they were near the elelvator, that feeling had reached its maximum."Let's get out of here before something creepy happens," said Matt. But suddenly all the exits were covered in dark energy. "Too late."

He turned and looked around "Lemme guess. Devimon, I presume." He said, drawing his blaster. "Why don't you come out and let us kick your butt?" Veemon, who'd heard stories about angry Devimon said shakily. "Matt? I really don't think that's a good ide…" but was ignored as Matt carried on. "Why don't you come on out so I can shove this EMP grenade down your throat?"

Then a black circle appeared on the floor. Then a Digimon rose out of it. The creepy part was just that he looked like a demon, but the way it rose out of the circle. It didn't rise up on a lift or come up from the floor below, but straight from the darkness itself. Matt turned and felt his bravado drain away at a sizable fraction of the speed of terror. "Okay…that's an eh…nice trick." he said as he and Veemon backed up. Matt aimed at Devimon and said "Ok…what do you want, Mr creepy?"

Devimon smirked and said, "You have been causing some trouble for my plans, but I wasn't sure if you were really all that tough, so I 'arranged' for you to come here and allow me to see if you're truly as powerful as I've heard you are. As well as destroy you myself." Matt glared. "Well, you don't look that tough either." he snapped. Rika shouted "Wait!" just as Matt opened fire, causing Devimon to vanish from view from the smoke of the exploding rounds.

Matt looked around in confusion before he heard someone say, "Tag, you're it." Matt turned around to see the back of Devimon's hand coming right at his face. He was thrown against the wall with considerable force. Matt slid down the wall, feeling like an starcruiser had just run him over. "Ok...so you're quite tough." he said dazed, before trying to get up and falling over again. "Ouch."

"You think a mere human can stand against me?" said Devimon. "Then how about you fight with a real Digimon," said Renamon. "Don't be silly, you can't digivolve with your partner in her current form," said Devimon, "and no Rookie can beat me."

Matt got to his feet just in time really...as it was then that Devimon launched at attack at enamon, which was dodged...resulting in it heading for Matt. Sudden death like this is known to be better for sobering then 50 gallons of black coffee and an unexpected brown envelope from the tax man. "Right...I have my reputation at stake here." he said. Veemon said "What reputation?" Matt raised a finger unsteadily and said "Exactly...now...which Devimon do I shoot?"

"Some mercenary," said Devimon, "Even a group of Bakemon could perform better than you." "Hey, I'm better than any cooking Digimon," yelled Matt, "or is it a different digimon?" Devimon slapped his forehead and said, "How could you possibly cause this much trouble, you're completely incompetent!" Matt glared and pulled out a card. "Hey…I'm not a hybrid. Veemon? Go help Renamon kick this jokes butt." He said ands swiped the evolution card, causing Veemon to become Flamedramon.

"An Armor Digimon?" said Devimon amused, "so this is the Veemon that escaped from the labs. Well, Armor-level power won't save you from me. TOUCH OF EVIL!" Devimon punched Flamedramon into another wall. "How pathetic. Can't you give me a real fight?" Matt had by now rolled a few EMP grenades under the fallen angel digimon. They chose this diplomatic moment to explode. While Devimon roared in pain, Matt ran over Hawkmon and Rika. "You able to help out?" he said, conversationally as Flamedramon got up and yelled 'FLAMING FIST!' before punching Devimon on the jaw with a flame covered fist.

Devimon rubbed his bruised jaw and said, "Impressive, but still not enough. But just to be on the safe side, let's take it up to the next level." Devimon became surrounded by black light as he yelled, "Devimon digivolve to... NeoDevimon!" The dark energy cleared to reveal a Digimon similar to Devimon, except his black suit had been replaced with armor on his arms and legs and a row of red orbs down the left side of his chest. He had red wings and a metallic mask on his face. "Do you think you can match the power of an Ultimate?" he said in contempt. Matt backed up. "Rika? Hawkmon? Now would be a good time to join in" he said "I don't think my grenades are big enough..." he said and saw the window behind Neodevimon opening out onto the seabed. "...but 700 gallons of seawater might." he said evilly

The two of them nodded and yelled "FEATHER STRIKE!" Several feathers flew through the air and past NeoDevimon. "Ha! You missed." "Wasn't aiming at you," said Rika. NeoDevimon turned and looked just in time to see the attack shatter the glass. "Oh no," he said before all them were swept back in a miniature tidal wave. As NeoDevimon was knocked to the floor, his dark energy barriers on the doors collapsed. Matt managed to stand up and spot that. "Out, quick!" he yelled as an alarm began ringing and heavy looking blast shields began to seal the various doors. The gang managed to get through the last door, not a minute too soon. A second later two dents appeared as the furious Devimon tried to follow. "I get the feeling we've outstayed our welcome." He muttered before they set off towards the cargo area.

--

Meanwhile, the tamers on the surface where getting anxious about the others. "I sure hope they're okay," said Takato. "I'm sure they'll be okay," said Henry. Suddenly there were several flashes of red light. Takato turned around and yelled, "Impmon! What are you doing?" The Rookie-level Digimon was looking very scared and was pointing in one direction. A squad of troopers in varying types of battle armour had come in followed by one of the captains from the security room and a teenage girl with a sniper rifle. The captain spoke pleasantly. "I am Commander Alan Dante. I thought I'd spotted something...you gonna surrender or do my men have to get nasty?"

The girl spoke up. "Just get on with it...the doctor wants them alive, remember?" Henry and Takato quickly swiped the Digivolution cards through their D-Arcs and digivolved Terriermon and Guilmon into Gargomon and Growlmon respectively. "So it's going to be that way, huh?" said the girl and grabbed her own Digivice, "Biohybrid digivolve to... BioAurumon." The girl was replaced with an owl-like Digimon with a red visor helmet with a tube sticking out of the back. Alan sighed and pulled out a strange tube, igniting an energy blade on it. "Men? You know what to do." he said and his men began shooting at Gargomon as BioAurumon charged at Growlmon.

Gargomon quickly retaliated with his own ammo while Growlmon and BioAurumon duked it out. "At first I thought it was a drag when I accidentally got stabbed with that dart," said BioAurumon, "but this definitely makes up for it. INFRARED EYES!" Lasers shot out of her eyes and hit Growlmon in the chest. Growlmon winced, but wasn't hurt to badly. Alan watched half amused as his men were decimated by Gargomons attacks before strolling forward. "I think you'll find me a bit harder to handle." he said raising his blade up.

Gargomon started firing t Alan who jumped aside, deflecting a few shots back before tossing a smoke grenade down. When the smoke cleared, he was standing behind the digimon with the blade pointed. "Had enough?" he said just as the door at the opposite end of the cargo area exploded forward, knocking him down. Matt, Veemon, Renamon, and two Hawkmon ran out and Matt yelled, "Impmon! Start the engine! Get the copter going!" Alan picked himself up in time to be blown off his feet again as the chopper began to heat up. Matt was about to climb in when BioAurumon grabbed him and pulled him out again.

Matt batted at her and yelled, "Get off of me you mutant feather duster or I'll knock you for a loop!" "Just like you knocked that dart out of my hands in into me?" said BioAurumon. "That was you? Then that means... uh oh." Matt started to notice how far away the floor looked. "Erm...can we talk about this as professionals?" he said, trying not to look. He wasn't happy with heights one bit.

BioAurumon had a nasty gleam in her eye, "Don't like heights, eh? Then how about a little dip in the ocean?" As she moved out the top of the surface lift and over the water, Matt remarked, "Er, you're pretty strong for someone your..." "Gender?" she asked, her talons squeezed warningly, "Size, I was going to say size. I know how tough girls can be." Said Matt, trying to reach his gun. "You do realise that Kurata is a psychopath, right?" he said, deciding to try and appeal to any good part of Sonya.

"Yes, but he pays me, as long as I get paid, get cured, and get out of here when this is over, I have no problems in particular." "Ah, typical mercenary character," said Matt. "Look who's calling the kettle black." Matt looked in another direction and yelled "Duck!" BioAurumon looked confused, "Duck? There are only seagulls here, unless... Hey! I'm not a duck, I'm an owl!" Suddenly she noticed the Impmon-driven copter coming right at her. The two had only enough time to scream before they hit the windshield.

BioAurumon moaned "...Ow." before falling off the front and into the ocean. Matt managed to hang onto one of the wheels, eyes squeezed shut and screaming something along the lines of "LEMME DOWN!" Terriermon stretched out one of his ears and yelled, "Grab on!" Matt used one hand to seize it, but lost purchase of the wheel when he did. Fortunately, Terriermon didn't fall out, but the yelling he was doing, he was obviously in a lot of pain. Once he was inside and had stopped shaking, he strode over to Impmon. "Nice flying but move over. I've got more fingers." He said, taking the controls.

**Osaka Park, Tokyo**

It was a day or two later... Matt looked down the hole at the back of Guilmons old lair in the park. "Seems stable enough." he muttered, scanning the Digital world portal inside the tunnel before going out to where Hawkmon was talking with the others. Matt looked over, seeing Hawkmon chatting animatedly with Rika, who was finally human again. "Portal's all ready for you." he said walking up. "Well," said Hawkmon, "it's been real, and it's been fun, but it hasn't been real fun. Maybe we'll meet again," "Hopefully not as close as last time," said Rika. As Hawkmon walked into the tunnel, Matt said to Rika, "I'm surprised you aren't still fuming about this." "Well, I've gotten over it since Hawkmon's a nice girl." "Good for you Rikamon," said Guilmon. Rika decked Guilmon with one movement, "Well, maybe I do have some steam to blow off." Matt nodded then looked thoughtful. "I've got the feeling I forgot something...

--

Back at a lonely section of the dockyards, Mark struggled on the ropes still tieing him and his men up. "Hello?...anyone?" he said…

--

Kurata was just keeping himself from smiling. "So...how did your meeting with that mercenary go?" he said, happily watching as Devimon fumed. Devimon glared at him and said, "Well, I nearly drowned, thanks for caring." "How can you drown?" asked Kurata, "weren't you in a whirlpool?" "That was quite the same thing," said Devimon, "but let's not forget that mercenary has once again make a mockery of us and made a mess of our base." Kurata shrugged "He's obviously had a lot of flash training, and Alan Dante's men are only human…to a given extent." He added thinking of the splitter members of Dante's force.

"Then maybe it's time we employed our more non-human forces," said Devimon, "The Bio hybrids haven't proven to be very useful, but I've gotten plenty of minions who are more than capable of putting their luck to the limit." Kurata pushed up his glasses and said, "Let's try to refrain from a Digimon invasion, we don't want any attention from the NSC. Besides, our project's almost complete, we just need four more Digimon."

"Let me see that list," said Devimon. Kurata handed the paper over, making sure not to make contact with Devimon's hand. Devimon looked over the list and muttered to himself, "I have the lower form of this one, no idea where that one is, that one's in three pieces, but I do know how to get the last one. But taking their data will be very hard work."

Devimon looked at the footage with interest. "This one shows skill, if it could improved a little more." "Bio-hybridizing him?" asked Kurata, "pehaps, but the other forms aren't truely powerful." "Then stop using Armor Digimon!" snapped Devimon, "you've created Mega-level Bio-hybrids before, do it again!" Kurata glared then called up several files, including a file of a digimon called Commandramon. "Yes…that'll do." He said, more to himself.

**Summary of NSC type stuff:**

**Flash Training: Flash training is a process in the NSC that uses subliminal messages to 'download' skills to a subjects mind.**

**Uh oh…looks like trouble on the horizon for our heroes…tune in next time and please R&R!**


	6. Chapter 6

Digimon, Dr Kurata and digimon tamers is property of Bandai

**Digimon, Dr Kurata and digimon tamers is property of Bandai.**

**Nullspace, Matt, Exo-Gene inc and Balwak station are my property. Mark is the property of my co-author, Cydra. **

**C.P.S Chronicles: Digital Conspiracy**

**Chapter 6 'Close Encounters'**

**Tokyo Harbour, Digital Field.**

About three days after the Hawkmon incident, the tamers were battling the Bio-Hybrids again. Only this time, it wasn't just BioChameleonmon. Don and Dallas were using their Digimon forms of BioElephantmon and BioShadedramon respectively. Matt pondered this as he peeped out from behind a forklift. "Great...First a giant gecko...now a flaming bug and a elephant. I'm this far away from losing the plot." he said, before shooting a few rounds into BioShadedramon's back.

BioShadedramon turned and cried, "FLASH BUSTER!" Fireballs in the shape of moths shot from his hands, but they were countered by the Fire Rocket attack of Flamedramon. "Why don't you pick on a Digimon with real firepower?" said Flamedramon challengingly. BioShadedramon turned and said Cockily. "I've got mjilitary training. What have you got?" he said, not noticing Matt had chucked a sticky version of his EMP grenade onto Bioshadedremons back...it had the words 'Have a nice day!' on it in matt's usual cheeky attitude.

BioShadedramon winced from the grenade pulses, but soon destroyed it with his Psychic Wave attack. "Is that the best you got? FLASH BUSTER!" Matt ducked under the forklift and said, "It's like a swarm of fireflies, only more literal." Matt managed to dodge the final few blasts and looked back to see Flamedramon had tackled the hybrid out of the air before throwing him into some fuel drums near the water edge. BioShadedramon got up again, shakily, his form flickering like a out of tune TV image. "You're going to pieces...literally." taunted Matt as he reloaded the grenade launcher on his rifle.

The two fire Digimon glared at each other before pointing their fists and calling their attacks. "FIRE ROCKET!" "FLASH BUSTER!" The fire attacks hit the fuel drums and made them explode. However, BioShadedramon has flown out of range and was admiring the roaring fire when he heard someone call "FLAME FIST!" and Flamedramon leapt out and landed a clean blow on the jaw. The two fire Digimon glared at each other before pointing their fists and calling their attacks. "FIRE ROCKET!" "FLASH BUSTER!" The fire attacks hit the fuel drums and made them explode. However, BioShadedramon has flown out of range and was admiring the roaring fire when he heard someone call "FLAME FIST!" and Flamedramon leapt out and landed a clean blow on the jaw.

The data that came off BioShadedramon floated towards Flamedramon and assimilated into his body. "That was actually felt good," said Flamedramon, "It made me feel stronger than usual." Matt dragged Dallas to his feet while saying to Flamedramon. "Must be full of vitamins." he joked before slapping a restraint cuff onto Dallas. "Now then...you're coming with..." he began but was knocked down as a stray attack from the other fights landed nearby. When he got up, Dallas was gone.

--

Dallas peered out of the equipment shed he'd ducked into, making a mental note to dropkick Don when they got back to Lab one. That attack had almost blown him up as well. He peered out to see BioElephantmon dodging shots from Wargrowlmon. As Wargrowlmon fired a radiation blade attack, Bioelephantmon jumped it and launched his own attack which knocked Wargrowlmon down. Dallas ran out to his teammate. "I think its time we left...where's Mark?" he said. "Right here," said BioChameleonmon as he materialized behind him. Dallas jumped and yelled, "Don't ever do that!" "Ah, but I like the way you scream like a little girl."

Dallas muttered something nasty before saying. "Is it worth going back? I mean...I for one am sick of Kurata chewing us out..." he said before considering it. "No...he'd just make us suffer more...lets go." he said and jumped as a laser bounced off next to his head. "RIGHTNOW!" he gibbered

**Exo-Gene facility 'Lab one'**

Kurata glared at the dishevelled and in Dallas's case, singed group of Bio-Hybrids. "You…you…" he said, unable to find words to describe this latest failure. Alan Dante and his men had volunteered for hybridization but they weren't ready yet, part of him though considered hiring a jar of mustard to do Mark n co's job. "What happened this time?" he said tiredly.

"Well, that fire lizard blew up a bunch of fuel drums on me and sucked up some of my data," said Dallas. Kurata raised an eyebrow, "Sampled your data? That's interesting." Don then added "And that Takato kids partner tried to incinerate me...He failed though." he said missing Kurata add under his breath "Sadly." "Well fortunately for you, I'm in the process of working some Mega-level Bio-Hybridization serum, so you won't be humilated all the time," said Kurata. "Not to mention I've gotten something that will make data collecting a lot easier."

He unveiled a weird looking device. It resembled a floating basketball with several spines. The hybrids looked at it with a polite air. "So? What the hell is it...HEY THATS MY BASKETBALL!" said Don. Kurata finally snapped and handed Mark a dollar who nodded and then hit Don on the head. "It IS a automated drone. It is fully cloaked so those tamers cannot see it...and it can gather any free-flying data within 60 yards...so you won't have to be in direct fire...even you idiots can't get this wrong." he said as Don moaned on the floor.

Suddenly the computer on Kurata's desk beeped. It clicked on something and said, "Huh, there's an NSC miner's ship heading over here. Strange, there's nothing to mine over here." The computer beeped again and zoomed in on the ships bridge. "Target 6 from list located...Name: Vademon." it chimed displaying Vademons details and attacks. "Ah, Vademon, I might have guessed. Excellent, he's just what I need," said Kurata. "But I thought you only wanted Machine-type Digimon data," said Mark. "I do, which is why I need to get that Vademon to digivolve and collect its data."

**Tokyo Harbour**

Matt wiped off the sweat from his forehead and said, "That was one hot battle. Not sure I can stand any more today." Suddenly an odd humming filled the air. "I had to say it out loud." He said before looking up. A strange disk-shaped ship hovered into view, dents and dirt marks covering the hull. The edges seemed to disappear into the air and a few gun turrets could be seen on the underside. Matt, however was grinning and waving at it, yelling in a strange language that made him sound like he had a sore throat but was the NSC's standard language, Splitter. Matt turned to the others. "It's fine. Just a NSC miner frigate…Godian Class…wonder what its doing here?""

The bottom side had a circular door on it. The craft moved about until Matt was right underneath the door. Then the door opened and a strange green light came out and shined over Matt. Then, to Matt's surprise, he started being pulled up by the beam. At the same time, the turrets began firing wildly. Veemon shouted "MATT!" and grabbed Matt's leg, resulting in both of them being pulled inside the ship. "Well done...Full marks for effort...now what next?" said Matt as they were deposited in the cargo bay. The inside of the ship didn't seem very friendly, plasma scorch marks covering the walls. "Well...this isn't good." said Matt, getting his rifle out again.

There were several broken robot parts everywhere. "Looks like whoever took this ship put up quite a fight," said Matt, moving a robot arm with his foot. "Took the ship?" "Well, miner frigates don't normally pull up people with tractor beams, so I doubt the original crew is piloting this thing." "That would be correct, human." A strange-looking creature walked through the doorway. It looked like a stereotypical alien with an exposed brain, tentacles for legs, and a ray gun in its hand.

Matt stared then shot the gun out the creatures hand. "What are you then...E.T's ugly cousin?" said Matt in splitter, aiming. Then the D-Arc beeped and Matt checked it as a hologram came out of it. Matt looked at it and said, "Vademon, eh? Figures something as odd as you would be a Digimon. No offense to you, Veemon." "None taken, there are probably weirder-looking Digimon." Said Veemon with a shrug.

Matt walked closer, still aiming at Vademon. "So…anything you wanna say? Like you didn't really wanna beam up a heavily armed mercenary with a D-91 particle rifle?" he said cheekily. Vademon narrowed his eyes at Matt and cried "UNIDENTIFIED FLYING KISS!" "Flying what?" said Matt then grimaced as Vademon blew a kiss at him. "Ew, gross, what kind of creepy Digimon are," Suddenly a sizeable meteorite appeared in front of Matt. "You?" The rock flew into Matt and continued till it hit the wall with a crunch that made even Vademon wince a bit. It slid down to reveal Matt grinning slightly with a black eye and a nosebleed. "Ooooh...look at all the birdies." he gibbered before falling on his face.

--

When Matt gained consciousness again, he could still feel the pain from that meteorite hitting him. The first thing he noticed was that he was in another lab. The next thing he noticed was that he was strapped to a table. "Huh? What's going on? Where am I? Do I still have pants on?" A quick look confirmed that he did and Matt breathed out with relief. The CPS training camp had been full of alien abduction stories. A quick test confirmed he was shackled up pretty good. A heavily modified mining laser stood in the corner. "Veemon? you there, bud?" he said, wishing silently he'd paid for the escapology flash training.

Movement out of the corner of his eye caught his attention. Vademon was standing there with his ray gun in his hand. "Do not be alarmed, human," said Vademon. "Too late for that," said Matt. "Sooo..." said Matt, mental gears clicking into annoying mode. "What you come here to do? Crop circles or another alien invasion? Word of advice, blowing up the white house is so cliché." He also smirked as annoyingly as his could. Vademon didn't seem to pay attention. "My interest is not currently with the human world. Rather, it is with you, or to be more precise, your Digivice."

Matt looked down and saw that his digivice wasn't there anymore. "Ok...please leave my stuff alone or I will have to kick your alien butt...tentacles and all." he said before adding in as cold a voice as he could. "Where's Veemon?" "Your Digimon partner is unharmed for the moment. However, as soon as I've finished, he'll be the first Digimon to feel my power." "I don't care if you're an Ultimate, I'm not going to let you hurt him," said Matt. "Oh, I'm not going to be an Ultimate for long," smirked Vademon. Matt's brain filed this away for later while his mouth continued to try and annoy him. "Yeah, right. This ships an antique...I'm surprised it isn't falling to bits...anyway, you don't have a partner." he said

Vademon frowned and said, "That has been something that's been impeding me for a while. I have been monitoring you tamers and your Digimon grow and digivolve over time. And I want that for myself." "What? A tamer?" said Matt confused. "No! The power to digivolve to the next level. Then I wouldn't need a human's help to take over the human world." "There's a level above Ultimate?" said Matt worriedly. In his head, alarm bells were going off, mostly along the lines of, 'oh smeg, another loony…I seem to attract them..' "You won't get away with it. You try something like that and nothing will save you from the NSC sanitization fleets." He said coldly, speaking of the devastating and ruthless assault fleets used by the NSC, their version of earths 'SWAT' teams.

"If my calculations are correct, my mega form will have the power to destroy entire planets," said Vademon, "now be quiet now. I have to make the final adjustments to my digivolution ray." He walked over to the 'mining laser' and started typing at a keyboard connected to it. Matt made a desperate gamble. "Well...if your calculations are anything like your looks then I've got nothing to worry about." he said scathingly in a voice guaranteed to make anything sentient angry. Vademon glared at Matt and said, "You're really pushing it human." "Why don't you get rid of me now? Is all the muscle in your body in that giant eggplant you call a head?" Matt sighed "At least I don't look like I have a half chewed gobstopper for a head."

Matt could actually see Vademon's temples throbbing, which was not a pretty sight. "I have had it with your smart mouth, human. ALIEN RAY!" A beam shot out of his ray gun towards Matt's head. Matt moved to the side at the last second and it hit the table instead. The manacles holding him gave off some sparks then snapped open. Matt smirked and pulled out his sidearm. 2Mines bigger, gobstopper head." he said and the shot knocked Vademon backwards. Matt jumped down off the table and looked around for Veemon, finding him out cold on another table. "Veemon? C'mon, wake up." he said

Veemon opened his eyes halfway and muttered, "No thanks, I couldn't eat another one of your pancakes. Okay, maybe just one." "If we don't get out of here, Vademon's gonna make us pancakes!" yelled Matt. Veemon fully woke up and said, "Vademon! We really do have to get out of here!" Matt heard a humming noise and turned to see that whatever program was in the Mining lasers system was running. "Ok, thats not good." he said. Vademon immediately got up and said, "The calibrations are complete!" He ran in front of the machine just in time to be hit by the laser that came out of it. Instead of being shot through like a normal mining laser, it instead coverted him into white light. "Vademon digivolve to... Ebemon!" The white light faded to reveal a mechanical version of Vademon standing there.

Matt and Veemon looked at the new Ebemon. He was fully cybernetic with double the ammount of arms, half of which had some lethal looking ordinance on them. Ebemon's face wasn't capable of displaying much emotion, but Matt still didn't like the look it was giving them. "And now that I have transcended to the next level, I have no further use for you. BRAIN RUPTURE!" Matt and Veemon narrowly avoided the blast from his left gun and quickly ran out of the room.

"There's no way I can beat him," said Veemon, "the highest I can go is Armor." Matt looked thoughtful and said, "Maybe we can fix that. If that ray worked on Vademon, it could probably work on you." Matt led the way back to the main hall where the laser was. By then alarm were ringing. "Caution. Damage now at critical levels. Timecore breach in 2 minutes." sounded the computer. Matt looked at the control, which were happily in english...and happy coincidence, Vademon had left the program loaded. Matt pointed in front of the laser. "Stand there please." he said as a explosion sounded deeper in the ship. Veemon looked nervously at the machine and said, "Are you sure this will work?" "Why not? Of course I've never handled anything like this, but what could go wrong?" A closer explosion sounded and Matt said, "No time to argure," and pressed the button.

Veemon was covered by the same glow as before. Then he cried out, "Veemon digivolve to... Flamedramon." Matt thought he saw a image of Shadedramon over Flamedramon before he shouted, "Flamedramon digivolve to... Paildramon!" Matt was about to say he was impressed at Veemons new form which looked like a dragon wearing biker-like armor with machine gunss attached to his waist when the circuits in an exterior wall exploded from overload and the air began to be sucked out. "Impressment later...LEAVE NOW! Tell me you can fly, dude." said Matt looking outside at the huge drop...tokyo looked tiny.

Paildramon quickly grabbed Matt and jumped out of the ship, spreading his wings as they fell. They swooped away just in time to avoid being killed when the ship exploded. "I'd say I'm impressed now," said Matt, "but I think I'm going to puke first." The two of them were distracted by the giant fireball that the ship was turned into. Out of the inferno floated Ebemon. "Now that my digivolution is complete, I now have the power to destroy this pitiful mudball of a world." Matt looked at Paildramon. "What is it with aliens and destroying earth? What did it ever do to them?" he said.

--

Ebemon came down with a thump that shook the ground and looked around as people quickly panicked and fled as fast as they could. "Now…where to start?" said Ebemon to himself before firing a shot into a deserted storefront, incinerating it. "Stop right there, Ebemon!" Ebemon turned and saw the tamers standing their with their Digimon. Ebemon simply laughed and aimed at them. 2You can't stop me...I'm much more powerful then your sorry excuses for a digi...whats that?" he said as a familier orb with the words 'have a nice day!' on them fell in front of him.

Ebemon glared at them and said, "You again? I'm going to get rid of you once and for all. Which shouldn't be too hard against a mere Ultimate." Matt retorted. "I didn't make those EMP's for nothing, you know." he said, and the grenade chose that diplomatic moment to detonate. Ebemon barely winced. "Okay, mental note: get something tougher for Megas," said Matt. Paildramon go in front of Matt and cried "DESPERADO BLASTERS!" The two machine guns on his waist pointed forward and blasted Ebemon.

Matt jumped down and ran for cover as the blasts caught Ebemon off guard. "Second mental note...get a gun like that." he said, impressed as he ran close to the tamers. "Erm...the flight didn't go well." he said as Ebemon began firing back at Paildramon, scoring some painful looking hits. "Look like it's our turn," said Takato. They held up their Digivices and cried, "Digimodify! Bio-" Suddenly a beam blasted the Digivices out of their hands. Then Ebemon's spare tentacles grabbed them. "Looking for these," said the Cyborg Digimon, "As soon as I'm done with this dragon/insect hybrid, you're next."

At Ebemons words, Matt suddenly remembered earlier at the docks. "So thats how...Paildramon...try a flame attack on him." he called then saw Rika's, Takato's and Henry's stare's. "Hey...its not like he's a usual digimon." he said with a shrug.

Paildramon closed his eyes in deep concentration, a remarkable feat since he was being shot at. Suddenly flames appeared all around him. "What? How is this possible?" said Ebemon. "Courage, something you would never understand." Then the fire went into the guns on his hips and he cried "FIRESTORM STREAM!" Two jets of flames shot out of the guns and hit Ebemon. "Impossible!" he screamed before being destroyed. The others stared in amazement before Matt said, "I really need to get a gun like that."

Unnoticed by the group a basketball shaped probe flew in and sucked up the majority of the data before leaving...

--

"Why didn't you grab it all?" said Mark to Dallas who was controlling the drone. Dallas sighed and said "I think they'd notice a lack of anything from that guy...they won't suspect us now." he said smugly.

--

Matt looked up at Paildramon. "I'm guessing from your looks that this isn't a usual evolution either?" he said to the tamers. "Well, it normall takes two Digimon to create Paildramon, ExVeemon and Stingmon," said Henry "The only way it could be possible for Veemon to digivolve to that if he had some Stingmon data in him." Matt shrugged. "He did absorb some data from that Bioshadedramon hybrid." he said to himself, thinking 'What other surprises are in store?'

**Exo-Gene facility 'Lab one'**

A assistant walked into Kurata's office. "I have good news from Marks team, Doctor." he said, putting the report down. "They successfully got sufficient Ebemon data...Also Commander Alan and his men are fully altered and ready to deploy." "Very good," said Kurata, "another piece of the puzzle acquired. Now to get the other pieces I'll need some things." "And that would be?" said the assistant. "Paper." Said Kurata. "Paper, sir?" "Of course," Kurata grinned, "What else do you put wanted poster and bounty contracts on?"

**Well…looks like more trouble for our heroes. Kurata must be sick of his goons messing up**

Mark: HEY!

Please R&R!


	7. Chapter 7

**Digimon, Dr Kurata and digimon tamers is property of Bandai.**

**Nullspace, Matt, Exo-Gene inc and Balwak station are my property. Mark is the property of my co-author, Cydra. **

**C.P.S Chronicles: Digital Conspiracy**

**Chapter 7 'Most Wanted'**

**Osaka Park, Tokyo.**

Matt had been stuck in Tokyo for a month or two now, mostly holed up in the warehouse district, trying to fix his ship. This wasn't the situation today, as Takato and Henry had decided that he needed a break to relax. He was leaning against a rock with his baseball cap over his eyes, as Veemon played with Guilmon and Terriermon. He was clearly tense though as he'd brought a blaster from the ship that was laying on his chest as he tried to relax.

Suddenly he felt something land on his head. He quickly whirled around and pointed his blaster up. He relaxed when he saw it was just Calumon. He clicked the safety back on as Calumon jumped down beside him. "I wish you wouldn't make me jump like that...could have been an accident." he said. Silently, Matt's jumpiness was partly due to the fact that Kurata had been suprisingly silent since Matt n co's visit to Lab One. "You okay?" asked Takato as he and Henry walked over. "Well, I'm just a bit nervous. Kurata's goons haven't bothered us in a while. It makes me think they're up to something."

Matt sat back, watching Veemon play around. "I doubt someone like Kurata would be happy that we strolled through his base and more or less trashed it on the way out." He said before adding. "You heard from Rika? I'd have thought she'd be taking time to relax as well." "She's fine, but she has a message for you in case you ever asked that question," said Henry. "What's that?" asked Matt. Then Henry said, with his best Rika impression, "'If you ever come near for any reason besides a wild Digimon appearing, Renamon will turn your body into a diamond mine'."

Matt stared then said slowly. "Sooo…not the type who relaxes then." He said nervously. He then seemed to remember something. "Oh…I did a search on that fake rig that Lab ones under…owned by some local company called 'Gaia Electronics'." He said. "Gaia Electronics? I know that place," said Takato, "There's a factory that opened on the other side of town."

Matt grinned. "Worth a look...if it's a front for Exo-Gene then maybe they have a nullspace comm...I could call the NSC, get them down here." he said, getting up. "Why wait?" asked Terriermon, "Let's go over there right now and kick their butts." Matt looked over. "A good idea...but they have more guns...I'd feel happier with some NSC troopers watching my back." he said, walking off before pausing. "Er...which way is it?"

--

**Gaia Electronics automated Factory, Tokyo industrial region.**

Endra Randas, a hawk antro and her men were looking at various security feeds. "Mr Kurata? My scout just reported in...contact with contracts 5 minutes...how do you want them delivered?" she said into her comm. Her group had been sent by the mercenary Company, Black Thirteen to aid the good doctor in finding a corporate thief. One of her men, a wolf anthro called Fang who was watching the feeds said. "Hold on...looks like some locals with em." Endra sighed and added "Looks like he brought friends...how do we handle the locals?"

"That depends, give me a visual," said Kurata. As soon as he saw Matt and the gang, he smiled and said, "Well, well, looks like my bounty hunters won't have to look very far after all." Endra glared. "Look...do you want them breathing or not?" she said. The doctor had been grating across her nerves since they'd met...with his 'humans are supreme' attitude. "Oh, in due time, in due time, but my other teams want to see them in action before they tried their luck. Think you can give it a shot?" said Kurata in his same gloating tone that Endra despised.

Endra slammed down the comm in anger. "So he thinks we can't handle a few kids and their pets, eh?" she said. "Fang? ell the tactical teams to move in...if the targets resist...shoot em in the kneecaps." she said and turned to watch the feed.

--

Matt peered at the factories large double door entrance to the loading dock. "Seem's easy enough." he said to Veemon. Veemon looked at the large padlock on the door. "It's locked." he pointed out and jumped as Matt blew the padlock...and the door part behind it off. "No it isn't" said Matt smugly. "I don't like the looks of this," said Takato, "we better have our Digivolution cards ready." "Guys, I doubt they'll have any Digimon here," said Matt as they walked through the doors. There was a large collection of rifles clicking and loading. "But a bunch of mercenaries, quite possible."

A eagle anthro with a sergeant insignia walked out, a symbol of three black lines on the uniform. "Great. Black thirteen. Why'd Kurata hire you losers?" said Matt. The sergeant glared. "I heard CPS hired idiots but this is too much...you realise we don't have to recover you alive?" he said, his beak clicking weirdly. Matt shrugged. "Don't Matter...You're not giving Veemon back to that nutcase." The avian frowned. "Bad life choice." he said and aimed at Matt...only for a knife to hit him in the back.

The gang to see a Digimon leap down from the rafters. As it landed in front of them, they saw it resembled a reptilian humanoid dressed in Native Amercan clothing with two axe blades on his gauntlets, a cleaver-like sword in his hand, and an even bigger sword strapped to his back. One of the mercs screamed "Shoot that smeghead." and the group all fired, only for the digimon to vanish again with a chuckle, causing a few mercs to shoot each other. "Time to go." said Matt and turned to leave to see a merc coming in and aiming at Henry. He drew his blaster and shot the merc down as a few more of the surviving merc squad began to decide that the tamers would make good targets to vent their anger on.

When the group felt the attention switch to them, they quickl slashed their Digivolution cards through their Digivices and the mercs found themselves facing two Champions and an Armor digimon. The mercs stared for a second. "We don't get paid enough for this smeg." One merc said before attempting to shoot at Growlmon to little effect. Another group of mercs ran in through a side door, led by a female avian with the nametag, 'Capt Randas' on it. "This is not worth NS20 mill." she said before aimnig several guns strapped to her wrists at a compressed air tank on a forklift, causing a ton of mist to escape.

Matt looked around until he spotted Capt Randras' silhouette. "Time to go bye-bye, birdie," he said and jumped at her. He wasn't quite what happened because of the mist, but he soon found himself on his back. Endra was pointing one of her wrist guns in his face. "Er...was the birdie comment too far?" he said. Endra just glared. "Least I'll get some bounty for killing you, you...ape." she said before listening to a comm. "Guess you're more interesting alive to the boss...catch you later, contract." she said before running off just as Flamedramon came out opposite. "Matt...are you ok?" he said, before de-evolving back to Veemon. Matt nodded, getting up. "I'm fine...you look knackered." he said before turning to bump into the lizard man digimon from earlier. "Oh...er, Hi again...can I get past?" he said.

"I'm afraid not," said the Digimon as he entered a fighting stance, "LIZARD DANCE!" Matt had to dodge very quickly to avoid being sliced with the Digimon's gauntlet blades and the smaller sword. "Who is this guy?" said Matt. His Digivice projected a hologram to answer him. "Let's see, Dinohyumon, Champion-level Dragon Man Digimon, big sword called Akinakes. That doesn't sound good." Matt pulled out the digivolution card and swiped it again. This time however nothing happened. "Sorry...no energy." panted Veemon. The fight with the mercs must have drained him. Matt simply pulled out his blaster and fired a few shots over DinoHyumons head. "Lets do it the old fashioned way then. Look up dude." he said. The blasts had burned through a girder and it fell towards the digimon, causing him to have to throw himsefl to avoid being flattened. He got up in time to have a blaster pointed at his face. "You wouldn't fancy a surrender, would you?" he said.

"You're a better opponent than I expected, but I came prepared," said the Dragon Man Digimon. He put two fingers to his lips and whistled loudly. There was a responding bark and a window shattered. Through it leaped what Matt first thought was a doberman with a spiked color, but then he realized this Doberman was a lot taller than those he's seen before. His Digivice showed another hologram. "Dobermon. Animal Type Digimon. I always liked dogs." said Matt and switched his aim. "Well, two is harder...but...I can do two." he said before he heard Veemon yell "Look out!" and a fist hit him in the back of the head.

--

Meanwhile, Growlmon and Gargomon were busy trying to keep Takato and Henry from being hurt. But the mercs were pretty tough and were hard to keep away. "Takato, I think we need to Digivolve," called Growlmon. Suddenly the mercs turned and ran for various exits, good timing as it turned out as the exhaustion caught up with terriermon and Guilmon, just as a bark and a smash was heard from the other side of the factory. "What was that?" asked Henry. "It came from where we left Matt," said Terriermon. "We have to go back," said Takato. "Wait a minute!" called Henry, but before he could say anything more, Takato and Guilmon ran back. "Those two will never change," muttered Henry and started running after them with Terriermon.

Matt opened his eyes again, his head throbbing from that blow he got. The first thing he noticed were Dinohyumon and Dobermon growling but slowly backing away. Then he noticed Veemon, who was looking really scared. Then Matt saw the scariest Digimon he's seen yet. It had a robotic body with a skull-like head and a sickle for its right hand. "Oh hell." He said. His Digivice beeped yet again and showed 'Reapermon. Mega Level. Cyborg type Digimon." Matt gulped. Mega level sounded very final…like bringing a bazooka to a fist fight. "Erm…so…why aren't we dead yet?" he asked, shielding Veemon. Reapermon just laughed, his voice chilling matt's blood. "Its bad business to kill a target." he said

"So Kurata's not fine with sending mercs after me, he's sending Digi-mercs too?" "Bounty hunters actually," corrected Dinohyumon. "I prefer to think myself as a judge," said Reapermon, the light catching off his Judgment Sickle, "and executioner." Matt gulped...But you said it was bad business to kill me." he said. He was mentally going through his options...while he had a few EMP grenades, they'd probably kill Veemon too and he doubted a blaster would hurt a mega level, but it looked like this digimon merc was in a bad mood...maybe over how Matt had kicked one of his teams butt...Matt knew he'd be just as angry were the roles reversed.

"True, but that was just in your case. Digimon, however, are not required to be brought back. And the lot of you here should whet my appetite for a while." "Wait a minute, you'd load your teammate's data?" Reapermon laughed and said, "Unlike weaker Digimon, I hunt alone. They are a separate team from mine, or should I say were?" The two digimon stared. "Wait...what do you mean?" said Dobermon. Matt shrugged. "I guess you guys never heard of teamwork?" he said, slipping Veemon one of his EMP lockpicks. "The red button." he whispered to Veemon. Veemon, not sure what he was doing, pointed the gadget at Reapermon and pushed the button. A red beam shot out and struck him. Reapermon flinched with pain as his data shimmered. "You think that puny effect could stop me?" said the Cyborg Digimon.

Matt shrugged, pulling a blaster put. "No...but it should soften you up." he said and blasted Reapermon in the chest. Reapermon was thrown back by the blast, but hardly damaged. He chuckled darkly and said, "What do you think I'm wearing? Tin foil? This is Gold Digizoid. You can't crack it that easily." Matt shrugged. "I guessed that…but the tamers will have heard that…know them?" he said as he heard footsteps approaching. The doors were suddenly thrown open as Wargrowlmon and Rapidmon stormed in with Takato and Henry following right behind them. On cue, Taomon came down through a skylight with Rika holding onto her robe. Matt pulled out a recovery card and swiped it and then the digivolve card, this time rewarded with Veemon becoming Flamedramon. Matt backed up to give the gangs digimon partners a good run up. "4 against 3...I like those odds. Nice to see ya, Rika." Said Matt.

Rika didn't reply but gave Matt a card that was almost completely blue. "Use this," she said. Matt shrugged and slashed the card through. "Flamedramon Matrix Digivolve to... Paildramon," called his partner as he went up to the Ultimate level. Matt couldn't have been more pleased if a NSC security team suddenly popped into existence as backup. "Oh, you guy are soooo dead." he said, before pulling out his EMP grenade. "And guess what? You're not blocked by my buds anymore." he added and threw it. Dinohyumon and Dobermon covered their ears in pain, their data shimmering like mad. "Okay! Okay! We give up!" called Dinohyumon. "Just call that thing off!" cried Dobermon. Reapermon was less effected. "Cowards," he said, "BONE DUSTER!" A turret of fire came out of the gun on his left arm and blasted the two Digimon out the window.

Matt was shocked. "You really don't do teamwork." he said, attacking along with Paildramon and the others to little effect. "Whats wrong? Are we getting tired? BONE DUSTER!" said Reapermon firing at the tamers digimon. The Digimon tried several attacks, but none of them seemed to work. Some of them actually bounced off of his armor. Reapermon threw back his head and laughed, "Is that really the best you can do? I was expecting a bigger challenge from your reputations." Matt hid behind a fork lift, slashed a giga cannon card for Paildramon and looked over at Henry. "Don't your digimon have a level like his? He's gonna pulverise us." he said as the digimon continued to fight.

"We would go to Mega, but those guys used some sort of jamming device to keep us from Biomerging," said Henry. "Biomerging? What's that?" Before Henry could reply, Reapermon called out "GRIM SLASHER!" and a chain shot out of his launcher and wrapped around Matt. He was yanked forward until he was at Reapermon's feet. He lifted his Judgment Sickle and said, "I'm sure Kurata won't be me bringing you back without hands as long you're alive." Matt gulped as he was raised to Reapermons face. Reapermon looked at the other digimon. "Let him go, ya creep." said Rapidmon. Reapermon simply laughed. "You won't attack.,..you'd hit your friend." he said. Suddenly there was a zing from the supervisors office that overlooked the area and a railgun round shot through Reapermons arm followed by a second that blew through the chain holding Matt. Needless to say, Reapermon went ballistic...

"BONE DUSTER!" He shot a firestream at where the shot came from. Matt saw someone leap out of the way before the flames hit. He took advantage of Reapermon's distraction to run away from him. He hid behind some boxes near where he saw that someone jump. "This guy is nuts," said Matt. "Tell me about it." Said Henry. A stream of what energy rounds shot into the wounds caused by the railguns, the mystery savior obviously having never heard of fighting fairly. Finally a crack appeared in Reapermons armour. "Seems as good a target as any." Matt said, shooting at it. Reapermon roared with rage and called out "BURNING CYCLONE!" A tornado of fire appeared around Reapermon and started spinning very fast. The Digimon quickly got sucked into it. The Tamers narrowly avoided being roasted by hanging onto something.

As the tornado subsided, the gang could see their partners reverted back to Rookie. Reapermon looked smug before heading towards the tamers. "So...that wa your best was it? First I'll absorb your parnters...then...who knows?" he said. Matt was about to reply when a rail pistol fell in his lap...a final gift from whoever had tried to help. Matt aimed it at the crack in Reapermons chest armour and said simply. "Go to hell." before firing.

--

Endra watched from her cover as the rail pistol went through the crack like a hot knife through snow and grinned before turning on her comm. "Doctor? Some bad news..." she said, trying not to hide her glee when Kurata found out the bad news in question.

--

"You think that will stop..." Reapermon stopped when the crack on his armor expanded and radiated out to cover more of him. Then some pieces of the armor fell off. Reapermon howled with pain before he dissolved into data. Kurata banged his hand on desk in frustration. Matt shrugged before falling on his face from sheer exhausion. "You know...I get the feeling Kurata's a bit angry at me."

--

"Curses! How could they possibly defeat Reapermon? I gave them the jamming devices to prevent Biomerging. They should have easy pickings?" He calmed down and asked, "Has Reapermon's data been collected?"

Endra looked at the collector drone next to her. "All of its been collected," she said, peering down at the tamers as they got ready to leave.

--

Matt finally got up and was about to help Veemon to his feet too when he spotted a note on the floor. He picked it up, unfolded it and read it:

_"Dear Matt,_

_Hopefully Reapermon's gone by now. In which case, it was me that shot at him. I did it because I didn't really like him, but mostly because I didn't want a cute face like yours to get hurt. I'll be seeing you again._

_Endra'"_

Matt felt his face warm up a bit, especially since Endra put a heart where most people put 'signed' or 'sincerely'. Matt carried the note in his hand all the way back to the ship...a bit of a mistake as Impmon was near the ship and grabbed the note off of him. "Aw...you gotta girlfriend, Lynch?" the digimon said with a snigger and was about to read it out loud when Matt grabbed him by the neck and started choking him. "Let me see it," said Terriermon as he snatched the note. "Terriermon, no!" said Matt as he let go of Impmon. Impmon strutted over to Terriermon, both of them had devilish grins on their faces. "Don't you dare-" warned Matt.

Then Impmon and Terriermon started chanting alternatively, "Matt and Endra," "Sittin' in a tree," "K-I-S-S-I-N…OW!" The two rookies rubbed their heads after Matt knocked them together quite hard. "I'll take that." He said, pocketing the note and walking into the ship. Once inside, he read the note again and looked at the rail pistol. "Wonder why she helped me?" he said to himself…

**Seems that not everyone on Kurata's side likes what he's up to…But what else has he got in store for the tamers?**

**Please R&R!!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Digimon, Dr Kurata and digimon tamers is property of Bandai.**

**Nullspace, Matt, Exo-Gene inc and Balwak station are my property. Mark is the property of my co-author, Cydra. **

**C.P.S Chronicles: Digital Conspiracy**

**Chapter 8: Triple Trouble**

Matt decided to take a walk through the park that day. The weatherman predicted that it should sunny and splendid the entire day. That suited Matt fine as he wasn't that fond of rain. However Matt had long forgotten a rule he'd followed for ages: Always believe the opposite of the weatherman.

Currently, it had started raining torrentially after 20 minutes. "Smegging weather," he muttered, from the shelter of a tree. He was about to call it quits, as the weather didn't look like stopping anytime soon when his wrist computer beeped. "Alert…Dimensional Instability...incoming traveller." it said just as a section of air began to glow and distort and a familier mist began to appear. "Great, never a boring day," muttered Matt, drawing his blaster. The mist soon solidified into a large portal. Matt raised his blaster and got ready to blast whatever came out of that thing. He was pretty shocked when a 14-year old boy with brown hair came out riding a dragon with cybernetic armor. "More Tamers? How many of you guys are there?" he said, running up. His wrist comp beeped again. "Incoming traveler," it chimed again.

"What? More?" said Matt, barely missing the boy saying, "We better hurry Cyberdramon, we have to warn the others." Suddenly the wind really picked up and blew the unexpected Matt over as well as the boy and his Digimon. "Too late!" said the boy as a very tall Digimon with green armor came out of the portal. Matt drew a second blaster and opened fire. "Why can't for once, one of these guys be nice?" he said, emptying his blaster clips charges into the guy. His D-Ark chimed and revealed the identity of the newcomer. When the blasts bounced off the Digimon's armor, Matt check his Digivice, "Fuujinmon, Mega-level Android Digimon, known as the Gale Commander, controls wind and has the Critical Arms that create energy blades." Matt groaned and said, "Why'd it have to be Mega?"

Fuujimon looked down at him. "You're the new tamer? What a joke," he said before crying, 'CRITICAL ARM!' Luckily, Matt managed to jump behind a tree; that fell into two neat slices. "Smegging hell," said Matt, reaching for an EMP grenade, only for Fuujimon to cry 'MARUT CYCLONE!' and blasting Matt onto his back, causing his EMP grenade to skitter out of sight. "You think you're any match against the god of wind," proclaimed Fuujinmon as the energy blades he had for hands sharpened. "Hardly a worthy adversary. Send out your Digimon so that we may fight." Matt looked nervous. "Erm, he's not here right now, can I take a message?" he said, backing up.

To Matt's immense relief, the Android Digimon turned away. "Bah," he said in disgust, "it would be a waste of time to battle a frail human." He turned to Cyberdramon and said, "You, however, are one I would readily challenge, though I would prefer one of a higher level." Cyberdramon just growled at it. Matt ran over to see if he could grab his grenade, when a Digimon flew right into his head. After a moment of struggling, Matt pulled of Calumon. "What was that for?" asked Matt. "Well," said Calumon, "I was going over to Jeri's for lunch when a big nasty wind picked me up and spun me around like a dizzy kite." Matt looked over at Fuujimon who was sparring with Cyberdramon. "Well, nice of you to drop in like this," he said with a grin, "You didn't see a little orb with blue lines on it, did ya?" "Oh, you mean this crazy ball?" asked Calumon as he held up the EMP grenade, "I got a funny tingle from it when I picked it up." "It would do that," said Matt as he took the grenade, "You better get behind me."

Matt tossed his grenade at the sparring Cyborg Digimon, causing Fuujinmon to wince in unexpected pain, but also caused Cyberdramon to de-digivolve into a smaller pterosaur-like creature that was apparently his Rookie form.

Fuujimon turned on Matt angrily. "You little pest," he roared as he advanced. Matt stood there with a smirk. "I added an extra one after my last tangle with a Mega." Fuujimon stooped. "What?" he said, curiosity getting the better of him. "About 30 microns of XV-30," he said as an explosion from the attached grenade sent Fuujimon onto his front. Fuujinmon got up and glared at Matt. "You will pay for your impertinence," he said.

He was about to run Matt through when Calumon's forehead started to glow brightly. Then Matt looked over at the boy and his Digimon as he called, "Biomerge activate!" The two of disappeared in an orb of light. Matt could hear the little Digimon call "Monodramon Biomerge to... Justimon!" Matt's mouth dropped open. "What the smeg?" he said. "What just happened there?" he said as the new 'Justimon' layed into Fuujimon. He looked down at Calumon. "Full of surprises...aren't you." he said. Justimon, who wore a blue and white jumpsuit with a large red scarf that served as a cape and a metal helmet, said, "Let's see how you like having a taste of your own medicine." His metallic right arm morphed into the same type of arm that Fuujinmon had. What surprised Matt the most was that Justimon's voice was that of the boy's and Cyberdramon's combined.

Matt stared as the battle carried on and noticed the boy wasn't around. "No way." he muttered as he put two and two together. "How did you… how?" he said, looking at Calumon. "It's not completely me," said Calumon, "They're the ones who want to fight together. I just give them a boost." Matt recalled Henry talking about Biomerging and asked, "Can the others do it too?" "Yeah, you betcha!" Matt smiled. "Sounds fun," he said to himself, just as the battle began to come to an end. "Well, can't let him have all the fun," he said, pulling out a few more of his grenades. Fuujinmon blew them all backwards with a great gust of wind. "You may have won this round," he said, "but I and my brothers will raise the city to the ground before we're done." He then flew up into the stormy sky and was gone.

Matt threw a grenade after the retreating Digimon, missing. "Damn," he muttered as a glow let out behind him. He turned to see the boy was back with the small Digimon. His Digivice ID'ed it as Monodramon. "Thanks for the save... erm... who are you?" he said. "The name's Ryo," he said, "And this is my partner." "Nice to me ya," piped Monodramon. "Cute little guy," said Matt, "seems a lot friendlier than Cyberdramon." "Yeah, I've been told that. But he prefers to be in Ultimate form for battle. What can you do?" "Erm... I can shoot a hole in a 2p coin at 500 feet," he said with a grin. "I also got my own starship... it's broken at the moment though," he added before seeing their gazes. "Erm... that was rhetorical, wasn't it?"

Ryo wisely decided that this wasn't the best time for this and said, "We need to get the others together. You heard Fuujinmon, he and his brothers are going to wreck the city." Matt looked worried. "There's more of those hotheads?" he said. "I gotta go get Veemon." he said, running for a park exit. Veemon was asleep when Matt burst in. "Eek...what going on?" he cried, getting up. "We have a big problem..." he said, getting out a pack of the Digimon cards.

He ran over to Takato's house to meet with the others. To his relief, all four of them were sitting at the kitchen table, although Rika was making it a point to sit as far away from Ryo as possible. Matt sat down and said, "Okay, we've got a situation here. We've got Fuujinmon and who know's how many of his brothers running rampant in the city." "There haven't been any others yet," said Henry, "Yamaki would have called us if there were more than one." Matt looked at Henry. "Who's Yamaki?" he said. "He's the head of this group called Hypnos. They monitor abnormal digital activities." Matt looked at the Digimon and said, "We'll I suppose Digimon are as abnormal as you can get digital-wise." Veemon kicked Matt's foot. "Ow...sorry, dude. Anyhow...why are Fuujimon and his mates here?" said Matt. Veemon spoke up. "I almost met them once...He and his brothers are always looking for a challenge." "Er, how many brothers does he have?" asked Matt. "Just two," said Renamon. Matt sighed. "But they're the same level and have different elemental powers." Matt gulped. "Well, I bet they're nothing I can't handle," said Ryo. Rika rolled her eyes and said, "Please, you couldn't stand up against the D-Reaper or the Parasimon without any help." Matt looked at them. "Hmm. Can we not argue about this? Lunatic trio wanting to laminate Tokyo. Can we leave this till later?"

Rika grumbled but then Henry got a ring on his cell phone. He answered it, "Hello? Right, we'll be right there." He hung up and said, "There's a dimensional disturbance at the wharf. It's probably another digital field." Matt looked around as his own wrist comp beeped. Matt waved to Takato. "Lets go...one of the signals is at the power plant. We can get there easy."

The power plant was in chaos when they arrived. A yellow armoured digimon stamping round the grounds. "Is no one worthy to fight me?" he yelled and buckled as two attacks hit him from the side. He turned to see Paildramon and Wargrowlmon. "How about us?" said Paildramon. "Wearing metal? Not a wise idea," said the Digimon, "ELEC-KUGEL!" Electricity coursed up his tail and to the missile launchers on his shoulders. Then several lightning bolts shot out at WarGrowlmon and Paildramon. Wargrowlmon and Paildramon yelled in pain as the blasts hit, causing them to devolve back to rookie. "I got em." said Matt, running out and catching Veemon. He looked up to see Guilmon dropping. "Oh...nuts." he said and Guilmon landed on him. Veemon got up and saw Matt, dazed underneath Guilmon. "Are you ok, Matt?" he asked. Matt giggled, "Why yes, I'd love a pretzel, Captain Nougat." he gibbered.

"Boys," muttered Rika as she checked her Digivice. "Just as I thought Raijinmon's a Mega-level like his brother. Not to mention his Blitz Arms give him the title of the Thunderclap Commander." She held her Digivice and said, "Looks like we'll have to Biomerge. Ready Renamon?" "Ready," said her partner. Matt shook himself to his senses in time to see Rika and Renamon in the same glow as from the park. "here we go again. Hey, guilmon...could you get off me?" "Biomerge activate!" called Rika. She and Rena disappeared in an orb of light and Matt heard Renamon call, "Renamon Biomerge to... Sakuyamon." The light cleared to reveal a beautiful woman wearing a black jumpsuit underneath golden fox-based armor and purple gloves and boots. She wielded a staff with several rings at the end. She leapt into the air and cried with Rika and Renamon voices, "TALISMAN SPHERE!" A golden ring of energy surrounded Raijinmon and slowly started to squeeze him. Matt managed to get up and watched. "Ow...that's gotta sting," he said and jumped as Raijinmon got free and cried 'BLITZ ARM' dealing several right and left hooks to Sakuyamon. Matt glared but sawa glow behind him, turning to see Takato and Guilmon start to glow. He looked down at Veemon. "Might as well watch...popcorn?" he said. "Biomerge activate!" called Takato. As Matt expected, the two of disappeared in an orb of light and he heard Guilmon call, "Guilmon Biomerge to... Gallantmon." The orb faded away to reveal a knight in white armor and a red cape. He had several sets of triangles on his body. His hands were obscured by the large lance and shield he carried.

Matt stared. "Aw come on, when is it my turn?" he said sulkily and turned to see two of the plants security aiming at him. "You...this is restricted," one said in a terrified voice. "Erm...not the time to care about that," said Matt, walking up to them. "I said free...oof," the first guard said as Matt punched him and pushed him into his mate, knocking them out. "Least they get a nap," he said and sat down to watch the fight. Matt looked over at Veemon and said, "I wonder what we would look like Biomerged?" Matt and Veemon tilted their heads in thought. Veemon thought of a commando version of himself while Matt thought of himself wearing Paildramon's armor. "I think I can wait for that," they both said. Matt pulled out a packet of sweets and offered one to Veemon before punching one of the stirring guards.

Meanwhile, Sakuyamon and Gallantmon were busy battling Raijinmon. "AMETHYST WIND!" called Sakuyamon and hundreds of purple crystal shards hurled towards Raijinmon, however they just bounced off his armor. "LIGHTNING JOUST!" called Gallantmon and fired a beam of blue energy from his lance. Raijinmon laughed as the attack hit him. "You use lightning against me? ELEC-KUGEL!" Matt clapped. "Bravo...YAH!" said Matt, just as an off-target shot just missed him. Sakuyamon spun her staff and two pink rings of energy appeared. "TWIN BLADES OF BEAUTY AND TRUTH!" she called before hurling them out at Raijinmon. "That's a bit of a mouthful," commented Matt, "and somewhat corny." The attack had a bigger affect on Raijinmon. "I tire of this," he said, "It's time I rejoin my brothers."

Matt pulled out an EMP grenade. "Not so fast, ugly...OW!" he said as a blade knocked the grenade out his hand. He and Veemon turned and saw, "Dinohyumon? This is not the time," he said, annoyed. Dinohyumon glared and said, "You and I have yet to finish our battle. I would prefer to do it before the three Typhoon Commanders join and destroy this city." "You really pick lousy timing...there's just one flaw in your plan." he said, pulling his Digivice out and slashing a card. "...this time Veemon's not tired," he said as Veemon digivolved. Dinohyumon was about to take out his larger sword when he noticed Raijinmon flying away. He grimaced and said, "Too late. We'll have to leave now before those three rejoin. If we battle here, we'll all be destroyed when they attack." Matt shrugged as he and Flamedramon aimed at him. "Oh go away," Matt said and blasted Dinohyumon out via a wall before waving to get the others attention. "We gotta bigger problem," he yelled. Gallantmon and Sakuyamon landed near Matt. "According to the Vanishing Lizard there, Raijinmon's going off to meet with his siblings." "I was afraid of this," said Sakuyamon, Renamon apparently speaking. "What?" "I think Dinohyumon was speaking more literally. I think he refering to that the three of them intend to DNA Digivolve into a more powerful form." "Great, Godzilla, eat your heart out," said Matt, "Hope the others are doing better then us."

**Meanwhile, at the wharf...**

It actually was like a scene from Godzilla. Dante and several of his men were waiting. "Here he comes," said Dante, looking at the Digivice Kurata had issued him and his men. "Incoming," said a sergeant, on top of one of the hovertanks they'd brought. The mistbank they'd been watching cleared away to reveal a red armoured Digimon with twin shoulder cannons. "A welcome committee?" it said. "Dante grinned. "Fire at will, we only needs its data," he said and the 4 tanks fired several blasts at the Digimon. The Digimon narrowed its eyes and said, "GIGA CANNON." The two blasters on its back launched powerful energy blasts towards the missiles, which were destroyed when they collided.

The attack continued further and hit part of the wharf. Dante and several of his men jumped out of the way of the blasts as the attack went through the tanks. "Time to have a test of this stuff," he said, reaching for his Digivice and stopped as two more Digimon went for Suijinmon. "Is that our guy?" asked Justimon. Henry used an interesting feature about Biomerging. Since the Digivice was a part of them, he just had to look at another Digimon to pull its stats. "Suijinmon, attribute and level same as Fuujinmon, Ocean Current Commander, Accel Arms and Psycho Boosters, yep, this is our guy."

Dante smirked. "Get the rest of the tanks reloaded for EMP lasers and get ready... we'll get three for one," he said as his men scrambled to get out the way. Suijinmon looked at the incoming Biomerged Digimon. "So this is the famous Biomerging I've been hearing about," he said. "Let's see if it can match the fury of the ocean. TIDAL PULSE!" Concentrated water blasts came out of his cannon and flew straight for Justimon and MegaGargomon. Dante watched as the blasts were just dodged. "Prepare to fire," he said. One of the gunners peered over. "Who at?" Dante shrugged, "Like I care." Fortunately, the ears on MegaGargomon weren't just for show. Terriermon just picked up what Dante had said and quickly warned Henry. The two turned to face the tanks and cried "STARDUST BOMBER!" They threw the bombs on their belt, blowing up all the tanks before they could fire. Dante snapped at this. "Right, I wanted an excuse to test run these upgrades," he said, turning on the Digivice.

Suijinmon aimed another Tidal Pulse when a cry of 'CYBER LANCE' sounded and an attack shot between him and his attackers. He turned to see another Digimon aiming another attack. "By the Sovereigns, how many of you weaklings are there?" Justimon and MegaGargomon looked to see a cybernetic dragon with a lance for a right arm flying towards them. "That's odd," said Ryo, "I can't pull up his stats, but I know that's Darkdramon." "Make that BioDarkdramon," said Dante's voice from the Digimon, "you aren't the only ones that can combine humans and Digimon on the Mega level."

As Dante gloated, one of the tanks wasn't as wrecked as it looked. The dazed pilot crew woke up slowly and looked at the scanners. "I don't believe it... we can get em all.... Dante...we got target in range." Dante's voice came back. "Well shoot em... wait a sec..." he said and was cut off as the EMP blast caught all four targets.

As the four robotic Digimon cried out in pain, Suijinmon managed to say, "No... I won't let this keep me from my brothers." He dropped towards the water and cried, "ACCEL ARM!" He splashed his two arms against the sea, causing it to come up as a tidal wave which washed Dante's men away. The tank crew came round to see Dante advancing on them with a piece of wreckage. "Hey boss...did we get it?" Dante's eye twitched and said "I don't know, depends on how good my aim is."

--

Henry and Ryo slowly got up. The blast from that tank caused them to de-Biomerge. They looked up to see Suijinmon flying away. "We have to go after them," said Henry. "You two feeling okay?" asked Ryo to their Digimon. The two of them nodded, but looked a bit disoriented. "We'll give them healing cards once we catch up," said Henry as he picked up Terriermon.

The two groups tracked the Digimon they were fighting. They were eventually led to the tallest skyscrapers in the city. Matt looked up and said, "There they are!" The three Digimon were floating high above the buildings. "At last, we are together," said Fuujinmon. "Our power shall become immeasurable," said Raijinmon. "Then let us wipe away these frail humans for our own land," said Suijinmon. The three wrapped their tails together and the clouds above came down and covered them. Matt looked up. "This kinda sucks." he said as light blazed out from the clouds.

Then from the clouds descended one of the largest Digimon that Matt has seen yet, larger even than MegaGargomon who just Biomerged again. It looked like a large battlemech with a single eye in its front panel and a long tail that ended with what looked like two bazookas. "I'm gonna need some bigger EMP grenades," said Matt. "We better be careful," said Gallantmon, "That's Raidenmon, the DNA Digivolved from of the Jinmon brothers. He has all their strengths and his Gilead Plant and Bit Charge Bomb attacks to boot." "Well, since he's out of our leagues, we'll just find a nice place to watch," said Veemon, "from a far and safe distance."

Matt nodded. "Yea... suppose," he said gloomily before spotting Dante. "Hey, isn't that the idiot from Lab 1?" he said to Veemon. Justimon heard him and looked. "Great, it's that guy from the wharf." "He caused you trouble?" said Matt, not sounding surprised. "Yeah, especially when he digivolved into a Darkdramon replicate." Matt and Veemon looked at each other. "Kurata," they said together. "We'll handle Kurata's rent-a-cops," said Matt, unclicking an EMP grenade and a digivolve card. The four Biomerged Tamers turned to face Raidenmon, who was hovering over the city. "Prepare yourselves, human…" cried the Machine Digimon, "…for the storm that shall wipe you off the face of this world." "Not if we have anything to say about it," said Gallantmon.

Meanwhile, Dante was waiting for Mark and his team to turn up with the transport when..."Oh no... not that joker," he said as Matt came into view, followed by Flamedramon. "Sorry pal," said Matt as he pointed his blaster, "but there's going to be a big battle here and I don't you anywhere near it." "How touching," said Dante, "but my business is with Raidenmon, so step aside." "And what could you possibly do that big guy?" said Flamedramon, fire crackling between his claws. Dante just sighed. "Mark? What does Kurata pay you idiots for? Get here while I deal with some bugs," he said, digivolving again.

"Me and my big mouth," said Matt. "So you're big," he said, "that just makes your fall harder." Flamedramon digivolved to Paildramon and pointed his two blasters at BioDarkdramon. "Oh please," said the Bio-Hybrid, "you're not worth my time. DARK ROAR!" A ball of dark matter flew at Matt and Paildramon and sent them flying. "This is not going to be fun," said Matt.

--

Meanwhile, the other Tamers had their hands full with Raidenmon. He created so much rain and water, it looked like a water cyclone. Plus he was constantly throwing lightning bolts at them. "I'm not sure how much more we can keep this up," said Sakuyamon. "Relax, pumpkin," said Justimon, "we've battle worse than this, remember?" Sakuyamon glared at him and said, "I'll battle you if you don't shut up." Sakuyamon waved her staff and cried "SPIRIT STRIKE!" Four elemental fox spirits appeared and charged Raidenmon. The fire spirit did some damage, but the wind, water, and lightning spirits healed it. Raidenmon laughed.

"Please...THIS is an attack." he said and yelled "BIT CHARGE BOMB!" firing dozens of missiles at Sakuyamon. Sakuyamon barely avoided some of them and had to use her Crystal Sphere for the rest. The redirected missiles hit Raidenmon, who buckled under its force. "Don't use water, wind, or lightning attacks," said Sakuyamon, "it strengthens him." "I've got it covered, MEGA BARRAGE!" MegaGargomon shot dozens of missiles at Raidenmon.

--

Meanwhile, Matt and Paildramon's day wasn't going as well. Dante/BioDarkdramon was proving to be a serious handful and to top it off, Matt was sure Mark was lurking around in BioChameleonmon form. "Kurata's going to be really pleased when he hears I blasted you out of existence," said Dante. He raised his lance and called out, "CYBER-" He was interrupted when a stray lightning bolt hit his lance, electrocuting his entire body. "Ooh, pretty lights," said Matt. He lifted an EMP grenade to toss it at Dante when it was grabbed apparently in mid-air.

"Didn't your mum ever teach you not to throw things?" said BioChameleonmon, shimmering into view. "True, but she also told me not to do this!" Matt poked BioChameleonmon in the eye with the butt of his blaster. He yelped and let go of Matt who threw the grenade into his face. Dante managed to come to his senses in time to see BioChameleonmon being thrown at him by Pieldramon. "Why does Kurata keep you around?" said Dante to the dazed Mark.

Mark came to his senses and said, "That's none of your business. Just because you've got a Mega form doesn't mean-" "FIRESTORM STREAM!" Their conversation ended when Paildramon started roasting them with his double flamethrower-like attack. Matt leaned on Paildramon and watched the result. "Hmm... I've never seen someone move so fast towards the docks," he said.

--

Meanwhile, the Tamers, now knowing more about Raidenmon's defenses, were continuously attacking him. However, as damaged as he was, he was still standing strong. "When will you realize it's pointless?" he said, "I am the god of storms. You are nothing compared to me." "We've battled digital gods before," said Gallantmon, "and you are nothing like that. SHIELD OF THE JUST!" The blast from Gallantmon's shield sent Raidenmon back a couple of yards, but he still stood. "Attack me all you wish, my power ever cumulates." His sentence ended in an extra-loud thunderclap.

Matt was watching. "That things armoured like a dreadnought," he said before looking at Pieldramon. "You know any weaknesses this guy has?" Paildramon looked up and said, "Remember what he said? 'His power ever cumulates.' I think he gets his power from the storm." "Terrific," said Matt, "I suppose we just change the weather now." "Well, maybe not us, but perhaps the others know how." "Worth a shot," said Matt as he activated the communicator function of his D-Arc.

"Hey, guys...me n Veemon got a plan... we need to get rid of the storm... it's like a reactor for this guy," he said. "Gotcha." said MegaGargomon, as they flew upwards and started spinning like a top. The clouds spun slowly, spreading apart. "What are you doing?" demanded Raidenmon. "Getting really dizzy and taking you down," said Terriermon, "JUGGERNAUT SPIN!" MegaGargomon became a green tornado and the clouds were spread thinly across the sky. Eventually a shaft of sunlight hit Raidenmon; his eye winced from the brightness.

Matt grinned. "Go for it, guys," he said into the comm before looking over at Mark and Dante. "Don't worry... we haven't forgotten YOU!" he said evilly. As the sky grew clearer, Raidenmon cried, "No! My tempest! My power!" Sakuyamon hit him with the Twin Blades of Beauty and of Truth, saying, "This is for wrecking the city." MegaGargomon stopped spinning and said, "This is for ruining today's weather, GARGO MISSILE!" Raidenmon fell onto his back, unable to get back up. Justimon flew at him and said, "And this is for ripping off my moves, JUSTICE KICK!" Matt and Paildramon looked back as Raidenmon cried out, in time for Matt to see a brief glimpse of Kurata's data gatherer "What the hell was... oh great, they're gone again," said Matt, turning back to see a significant lack of Dante and Mark. Not far way though...

--

Dante glared at Mark. "We keep this between us, ok?" he said as the data drone floated down beside them.

--

With Raidenmon gone, the sky soon cleared. The four Tamers and their Digimon reverted to their normal forms. "Guess there really is going to be sun today," said Takato. "Yep, thanks to me," said Ryo. Rika snorted and said, "You're so full of yourself." "What is it with you and Ryo?" asked Matt, "Do you have a crush on him or something?" The others stared at Matt with horror.

"What? What did I- OW!" The next thing Matt knew, someone was trying to stretch his face to the back of his head. "You're gonna pay for that, Lynch!" yelled Rika, "You're gonna pay big time!" As Matt howled for mercy, Veemon asked, "Shouldn't we stop her?" Terriermon put his hand on his shoulder and said, "You do not want to get in the way. Rika can get pretty rough when she's angry." He rubbed his ears, as if remembering some past wound, "Trust me."

Meanwhile, Kurata analyzed the data from the drone. "Very nice job," he said, "This pushes my research ahead phenomenally." Dante, who had several bandages on his body, grumbled, "I wish I could have squashed that Lynch guy though." "Acceptable losses," said Kurata, "You'll get your chance soon enough." "It would help if I had better teammates. Why do you keep that softie Mark around, anyway?" "Sorry, that's an employer-and-employee thing. Why don't you take a day off to recover?" Dante grumbled as he left the room.

Kurata sat back in his chair and smiled. "Just one piece of the puzzle left," he said. A darkening of the room caught his attention. "What now Devimon?" he said. "I heard what you said," said Devimon, "and I know what you need, but there's a slight complication with that." "Oh?" said Kurata. "This Digimon is an ally of mine and as much as I'd like to see your project done, I can't part with him without major drawbacks." "I don't need all of him," said Kurata, pushing up his glasses, "Just his armor would suffice." Devimon gave Kurata a sardonic look, "That armor is made of Red Digizoid; he won't be willing to give it up. And it's not easily removed, even by your forces." Kurata grinned and said, "Ah, but I have a plan that I think the two of you would greatly enjoy."

**Oh dear…more trouble for the gang…what has Kurata got in mind? Find out next time.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Digimon, Dr Kurata and digimon tamers is property of Bandai.**

**Nullspace, Matt, Exo-Gene inc and Balwak station are my property. Mark is the property of my co-author, Cydra. **

**C.P.S Chronicles: Digital Conspiracy**

**Chapter 9: Order and Chaos**

**5 Miles outside Tokyo city limits**

The taxi driver looked over his shoulder at the weird English kid who'd asked to be brought out here. "You sure you wanna stop here? It's just a field." The kid looked out the window and said. "No…not here." The taxi man sighed, 'the guy must be wasted…' he thought "…it's the next field down…" added the kid and the taxi man added to his thoughts 'or crazy'. The kid got out and walked into the field. The taxi driver just laughed…till a hole opened in the air in front of the kid and a dragon stepped out and snarled at him.

The splitter and Matt watched with mild interest as the taxi broke several speed records taking off down the road. "What an excitable fellow, I only said hello." The splitter said. "Let's face it, your species' tongue doesn't really sound friendly to others," said Matt. "Well at least ours didn't evolve from primitive hooting. But what brings you here?" Matt looked at him. "Can we talk inside before Mulder and cully get here?" he said. The splitter sighed and led the way inside, closing the door. The ship was full of weapon crates and combat vehicles, all black market. "Great. The one ship I flag down and its arms smugglers." Matt muttered and jumped as a Russian accented voice said "And how may I be helpink you, human?" Matt was about to reply when he spotted something. "Is that a...I thought the new Type 51 EM guns were still experimental." he said, seeing a stack of sleek looking rifles. He realised he was off track and said. "I need a ride to the nearest security station...I'll have a passenger with me...mr?" he said. The splitter smiled "Auric Romanov, at your service." he said.

"Right, why does that name sound familiar?" Romanov shrugged and said, "My name could have been spread around somewhere." Then his computer screen flashed as a notice popped up. Romanov glanced at it and said, "Looks like you chose the right time to leave. Sounds like the nearest city's being attacked." Matt wandered over with Romanov to look at a hacked feed from a Japanese News network. It showed a group of civilians at the bridge into Tokyo's Obidai District, being blocked by members of the Japanese Self Defence Force. Osaka itself was obscured by a thick fogbank that Matt knew was no ordinary one. "You've got to be kidding." he said to himself. "I gotta go back there, Romanov..." Romanov laughed. "You are beink crazy...let ze NSC handle it."

"The NSC doesn't have any idea what's causing it and they won't know how to beat it," said Matt. "And you think you can." "Don't worry, I have backup," said Matt as he ran out. Romanov turned to his fellow Splitter and said, "Humans, they get crazier with every generation. Soon they'll be heading back to the trees they came from." Matt came back inside suddenly and pointed at the rifles. "I'd like to buy some things first..." he said.

--

Matt sat in the control seat of the recon vehicle he'd brought. It was unlikely he'd get back to nullspace any time soon so he'd decided to spend the last of his creds on an edge he was sure he'd require. Luckily the vehicle itself just looked like a streamlined SUV...hopefully nobody would ask about the 'spikes' under the headlights. He turned the corner and sighed...the tunnel he'd hoped to use had a barricade on it too. He pulled up and stopped as a soldier walked towards his side.

"Sorry sir, but you can go through here. This area's under attack and we need to keep civilians away from here." "I'm not a civilian," said Matt. "Really? Then where's your badge?" Matt gulped. He hadn't thought that far. He pointed behind the soldier and said. "Is that godzilla?" and gunned the engine when the soldier turned. The guarded fired but were shocked when their rounds, instead of slicing the tires up, bounced off. "Should we call this in, sir? Mr Yamato might wanna know."

"Why bother?" said his sergeant, "anyone who wants to barge through there is either suicidal or has a Digimon partner. Either way, one less hassle for us to take care of."

--

Matt drove the vehicle out of the tunnel into Osaka and was shocked to see the city practically deserted. He'd have at least expected panic. The vehicles computer beeped. "No concious human units detected. Unidentified sedative in atmosphere..." it droned. Matt squeaked in fright and grabbed a gasmask from the utility drawer in the vehicle. Matt slowed the car down to a stop and looked around. If Digimon were behind this, he'd would expect them to be marching around the city. But he didn't see any living thing. "It's quiet," he said, "Too quiet."

Matt nearly had a heart attack when something started banging on the door. "Hey Lynch! Ya in there? Let me in if ya are!" "Impmon? Is that you?" Matt asked as he looked out the window. "No, it's Eugene the Jeep," replied the Small Demon digimon sarcastically, "Come on, Lynch, let me in!" Matt opened the door to see Impmon. "Hey there...get in...but no touching the buttons...I think one fires a mini-nuke...I haven;t finished the manuel yet." he said pointing to what looked like more of a brick then a book.

"We need ta hurry," said Impmon, "I left Calumon in a back alley for safety. It's not safe on the streets. All the humans are asleep." "What about Veemon?" asked Matt. "Right, about that, I think you should put your foot on that gas pedal very hard." Matt grabbed Impmon. "What...happened?...OOF!" he said as something hit the Vehicle, making it rock. Matt turned his attention back to the front to see what looked like Gargomon. "Hey...its me, stop that." said Matt over the loudspeaker.

Gargomon didn't respond, his eyes were glowing red and a black ring was around his neck. "Step on it!" yelled Impmon, "He'll blow us to bits!" Matt, deciding now's not the time to argue, floored it and sped past the large rabbit-like Digimon. Several more rounds bounced off the vehicles rear armour and Matt turned to see Gargomon chasing them. "Dammit. He can move it when he wants." Said Matt. "Alert. Hostile lifeform…deploying countermeasure." Said the computer and a hail of laser fire shot out a hatch in the rear, hitting a parked car and blocking the road with the explosion.

Matt felt relieved for a minute, but that feeling soon passed after he saw that the street ahead was covered with flames. He quickly put on the brake before the car could get singed. Through the flames, he could see Growlmon, Kyubimon, and Flamedramon, all wearing the same ring and their eyes glowing red. "Not veemon..." said Matt and thumped the dashboard...which lit up. 2Uh oh." said Matt. "Activating autopilot...evasive measures online..." said the computer in a serious tone and swerved towards a wall, going through it like it was rice paper and out the other end of the building, followed by the digimon.

Impmon was gripping the upholstery with both hands. "Who built this crazy thing?" he demanded. Matt was settling for gripping the steering wheel and screaming as the vehicle did a tight corner. "Escape route plotted...stand by." said the computer and drove towards a subway entrance. "Nononono." said Matt hysterically. Their two jaws yattered in their skulls at they went down the stairs. "Ho-o-o-ow d-o-o-o-o y-o-o-o-o sto-o-o-op thi-i-i-is thi-i-i-i-ng?" said Impmon. Matt tried to hit the auto-pilot button, but the jostling caused him to hit the rear lasers. That had the positive effect of blasting the pursuing Digimon away, but it caused the entrance to collapse.

The bumping finally stopped when the vehicle drove onto the subway tracks. Matt shakily looked at the manual under troubleshooting. "It says the combine made it...aw...they're not likely to have a helpline." he said, shaking slightly. "Say, can this thing drive towards any location ya put in it?" asked Impmon. "Sure, why?" "Move over, I need to put in the street where I left Calumon." Impmon typed in the street name and the autopilot said, "Redirecting destination," as a large drill popped out of the front. "Ooh, we got the deluxe version," said Matt.

The wall presented as much resistance as paper as the vehicle literally drove into it. After a few minutes the vehicle drove out into an underground garage, shredding a limo as it went. "Crap, I hope we don't get found out for that." said Matt as the two half's exploded.

The vehicle continued boring until it was above ground again. After that, it headed down the mercifully-empty street. Then the vehicle slowed to a stop and said, "Destination reached." "Great, that alley shouldn't be too far off," said Impmon as he unbuckled his well-needed seat belt. Matt slowly got out and went over to a lamppost and hugged it till he felt better. "No more autopilot...ever again." he said

Impmon quickly ran down the street and went into an alleyway. "Let's see, where did I put the little cream puff?" he muttered. Then he noticed a pastry box and said, "Oh yeah." He opened the box and pulled out Calumon, munching on a piece of bread. Matt glared at Impmon "You left him in a BOX?" he said with a visible eye twitch, the stress obviously getting to him. "Well, I couldn't let him wander the streets, not with all the Commandramon and Sealsdramon marching about."

Matt sighed and jumped at a distant noise that reminded him the majority of his guns were at the ship and his digimon partner was currently hunting him. "Ok...Point to you. Hey calumon...wanna get a tour of the Skyraid?" he said. "Yeah, but how are we gonna get around all the meanies?" "What meanies?" said Matt and peered out to see a red-eyed and dark ringed Growlmon with several robotic digimon that could be identified as Sealsdramon. "Great…so much for getting to the jeep." Muttered matt. "Don't worry," said Impmon, "I'll take care of them." "You?" said Matt incredulously, "What can you do?" Impmon ignored Matt and said, "Calumon, give me a little juice, will ya?" "Sure," said Calumon as his forehead glowed. Impmon became covered in the same glow as he said, "Impmon digivolve to... Beezlemon!"

Impmon morphed into a much taller Digimon. From a distance, he might be mistaken for a biker wearing black leather clothing if it weren't for the metallic rat-like tail. However, the metal claws on his hands and feet were clearly not human. He wore a close-fitting, dark blue bike helmet over his head that curved downward in the front in a way that resembled a bird's beak. Three holes were in the helmet for his red eyes to look through. He had yellow spiky hair, pale blue skin and what looked like Impmons bandanna round his left arm.

Beelzemon calmly reached for the sawed-off shotguns holstered on his back and left boot. He aimed it at the Sealsdramon and yelled "DOUBLE IMPACT!" Matt couldn't tell what kind of round he used, but it obliterated the Sealsdramon, but didn't touch Growlmon. Matt finally found something and pulled it out. It was one of the EM rifles from earlier. "Nice shooting...my turn." he said, aiming and firing what looked like fork lightning at the one remaining sealsdramon, vaporising it. "Extra crispy, smegheads." he said, laughing insanely.

"And now for pineapple-head," said Beelzemon as he sheathed his guns. He ran over to him, his claws glowing purple. "DARKNESS CLAW!" he yelled as he jumped and slashed at the Dark Ring on Growlmon, leaving streaks in the air where they went. The ring was shattered on contact. There was a blaze of light and Guilmon was laying where Growlmon had been. Matt ran up first. "Guilmon…how many fingers?" he said. Guilmon looked confused, "Where am I? Where's Takato? What's been going on?" "I'll tell ya what's been going on," said Beelzemon, "Chaos, with a capital C for Chaos Mode. Machinedramon Chaos Mode, to be exact."

Matt looked over at Beezlemon before looking around. "Lets get to the skyraid...we'll be safer then here." he said

--

The Skyraid was mostly intact on the outside though it was turned upside down inside. "Ok...this machinedramon dudes space vapour...mega or not..." he muttered, picking up a shattered infopad. "Easier said than done," said Beelzemon, "Chaosdramon's got Red Digizoid armor all over. There isn't a human weapon that can dent him. Even my own bullets won't work. We'll need to get the others if we're gonna stop him."

"Matt sat down. "And I bet that'll be so easy." he said sarcastically. He looked over at Guilmon who was sniffing the controls and was about to tell him to cut it out but stopped, just sighing. "I promised Veemon I'd watch his back." he said gloomily.

"What about Guardromon and MarineAngemon?" asked Calumon. "I don't know," said Beelzemon, "I think they're with Kazu and Kenta. Those creeps only seemed interested in getting the tougher Champions fighting and the Rings won't work on anything higher than that. We'll have to search the city for them." "We'll have to be careful though..." said Matt beofre looking over at Guilmon. "Whats the last thing you remember?"

--

Meanwhile, in the central part of the city, a Commandramon was running towards the main square. Squatting in the middle of the square was an enormous mass of red metal that was shaped somewhat like a dragon with two cannons on his back. "Chaosdramon, sir," said the Commandramon, "we have reports of some lingering groups of resistance." Chaosdramon turned to look at the Commandramon with distaste. "I thought you informed me that all the humans were asleep." he said. "All humans that were in the city, but this one came in with a gas mask. And he's met up with the Digimon that evaded us." Said the Commandramon nervously. Chaosdramon sighed...and crushed the Commandramon under his fist. "I hate bearers of bad news...FLAMEDRAMON!" he yelled.

The fiery Digimon stepped forward, "Yes sir?" "Your old partner is back in town. I want you to greet them, then give him a proper farewell." "Yes sir," said Flamedramon as he sped off.

--

Matt was talking with Guilmon. "Please try to remember...it may help us find Takato and the others...god knows we'll need their help." he said. Guilmon scratched his head and said, "All I remember is the mist putting Takato to sleep. Then a Commandramon came in, took his Digivice, and had a Dark Ring with him. Then nothing." Matt looked disappointed and said, "Too bad you can't track Takato or his Digivice." "Actually, we can," said Beelzemon, "Comes with being a Tamed Digimon." "Why didn't you say so?" demanded Matt. "We thought you already knew. And we can't pick them up instantly, we have to be relatively close." Matt glared then sighed. "Ok…which button?" he said and pressed the one Beezlemon pointed out. "Damn…its broken." Guilmon looked over his shoulder and said "Why?" Matt said "Cause according to this he's in the cargo…hold." He said, his voice trailing off.

Suddenly there was a lot of banging and the door to the cargo hold was blasted forward, hitting Beelzemon and pinning him to the wall. Matt looked to see Flamedramon standing there, his eyes glowing the same red as the flames around his claws. Matt grabbed the EM rifle as Guilmon growled ferally. "Don't make me shoot you, dude." he said aiming at Flamedramon. Flamedramon just smirked and blasted the gun out of his hand. "Ah nuts." Said Matt, backing up.

Matt took out his digivice and looked at the different cards he had. "None of these are any good," he muttered, "unless..." He quickly swiped the Blue Card through. Flamedramon's form quickly changed to Paildramon, but the ring started sparking madly. It soon self-destructed, causing Paildramon to revert back to Veemon. Matt was first up to Veemon. "Hey, dude…you ok? C'mon…wakey wakey." He said. Veemon groaned and opened his eyes. "Did someone get that locomons number?" he said

"He'll be fine," said Matt as Beelzemon kicked off the door that landed on him. "That's gonna leave a mark," he muttered. "We better find the others before it spills out to the rest of Japan." "I don't think we can drive through all those Commandramon," said Matt. "Not in your ride, but my ride's got an edge." Beezlemon walked out into the warehouse where the Skyraid was and whistled. Matt, Veemon and Guilmon came down just as a black motorbike came rushing in. Matt wandered up to it. 2Nice ride…how much horsepower?" he said, reaching for the handlebars, only to be tackled by both beezlemon and Guilmon. "HEY…what gives?" he said.

"First off, nobody rides Behemoth but me," said Beelzemon as he stood up, "second off, nobody CAN ride Behemoth but me." "Why's that?" "It takes over your mind and make you attack everyone," said Guilmon as he rubbed his head, "You don't want that to happen." Matt could be said to have a very accurate visual imagination which suddenly went into overdrive with what the possible results could be of a NSC trained merc on a rampage. "Good point..." he conceded.

Beelzemon sat on the motorcycle and said, "Guilmon should be able to lead us to Takato, and the others might be with him. But in case he isn't, Calumon's able to find the others he wants to. You and Veemon can ride behind me while they try to find the other's locations from the rooftops." "Okay," said Veemon, "how bad could that be?"

--

"OW!" yelled the Mega level Digimon as drove his motorcycle. "Keep your eyes on the road!" yelled Matt. "I can't help it," gritted Beelzemon, "you're sitting on my tail." "Tough luck, go right." Matt yanked Beelzemon's dorsal pipes, which he was using as impromptu handlebars, towards the right. Beelzemon cried out in pain, causing him to swerve right. "Too far! Too far!" cried Veemon. Matt calmly thought "We're gonna die...we're gonna die cause this guy drives like how I land." Finally the park came into sight. "STOOOOOP!" shrieked Matt

Behemoth's brakes shrieked as Beelzemon tried to stop. The motercycle finally came to a stop right before it hit the curb. The three riders slowly and shakily got off. Matt and Beelzemon looked at each other and yelled "I'M NEVER RIDING WITH YOU AGAIN!" Matt sighed. "Well...now we've attracted everyone within 10 blocks...shall we?" he said, pointing to where Guilmon was.

Beelzemon nodded and was about to walk over when he paused. He started staring in a different direction, the eye in his forehead looking around questingly. "Uh, Beelzemon?" "Sorry, I can't come," said Beelzemon as he hopped back onto Behemoth. "I just felt my Tamers' signal and I have to check it out." Matt and Veemon watched Beezlemon jump back on behemoth and zoom off. "Yeah…thanks a bunch." Yelled Matt after him before walking over to where Guilmon was…and nearly tripping over the sleeping form of Henry.

Matt looked down at Henry and saw that a device was clamped onto his forehead. "Hmm, the process of waking him should take a lot of gentleness and delicate approach," he said. Then he picked up Henry by his shirt front and started slapping his face while yelling "WAKE UP!" Veemon had found Rika as well and was tickling her on the nose...something Matt considered as brave as hell. A groan from where Guilmon was got their attention, to see Takato, stirring, his device fizzled out and sparking from some sort of overload.

"Ow, what happened?" asked Takato, "What's thing on my forehead." He reached for the device and pulled it off. The device broke apart and disipated into data in his hand. "Apparently it's connected to the Dark Rings the Digimon are wearing. When they break, these devices break. That means we just need to find Kyubimon and Gargomon." said Matt. "I doubt they'll let us close enough. Veemons knackered from being released...and I bet guilmon is too. Least they dunno we're here." he added. Suddenly the trashcans blocking an alleyway blew up as the two brainwashed Champion Digimons they were talking about walked through. Matt slapped his forehead and said, "Murphy's law! Murphy's law! Why can't I remember it?"

Matt pulled out a digivolution card and swiped it, but nothing happened. "Ok, that's just bad." he said, pulling his gun out and looking to see if Takato was having better luck. Takato quickly used a Power-Up card to give Guilmon more speed and firepower. Guilmon growled, his irises becoming slits. Then he charged Gargomon and jumped over him, yelling "ROCK BREAKER!"

Matt and Veemon however had to deal with Kyubimon, and were doing it by coming in from either side. Kyubimon easily leapt over but revealed her dark ring to a few bursts from Matt's gun, cracking it but not destroying it. Veemon jumped towards her and yelled "VEE KNOCKOUT!" The blow caused Kyubimon to land hard, directly on her ring, which broke completely.

Matt high fived Veemon as Kyubimon reverted back to Renamon. "Lets go see how Takato n Guilmon are doing." he said. Henry and Terriermon were sitting on the ground, rubbing their heads. "Why does my face hurt?" asked Henry. "Er, those Digimon must have handled you roughly," said Matt, "but we need to find Ryo. If what I've heard from Beelzemon's true, Chaosdramon'll take all of you guys to beat." "Ryo's in the Digital world right now," said Rika as she got up, "we'll have to do with you, Veemon, and Beelzemon. Speaking of which, where is he?" Matt was about to reply when they heard a familiar revving. They turned to see Beelzemon riding back into the park. He slowed his bike down and said, "Ok, everybody off." Two small kids climbed off behind him. "Thanks for letting us ride, Impmon," said the girl. "Ai, how many times do I have to tell ya? Call me Beelzemon when I'm this big."

Matt stared at the two kids. "Those guys are your tamers?" he said barely concealing a grin. "Talk about open to all ages." he muttered to Veemon. Beelzemon glared at Matt with his three eyes and said, "Watch it, buster. Don't make me-" Beelzemon was interupted when a loud roar was heard. And it sounded nearby. "Oh goody…company." Said Matt sarcastically and turned to see several dozen commandramon coming down the way that Kyubimon and Gargomon had come down. "Back to work." He sighed and threw a EM grenade at a couple.

The Rookie-level grunts were quickly destroyed, but the Champion-level remained. Then suddenly the whole ground shook. "What was that, an earthquake?" asked Matt. Then the ground shook again. "Earthquakes don't happen in repetition, footsteps do," said Rika, "we better Biomerge now." Matt looked up as the biggest digimon he'd ever seen came into view. "It IS godzilla." he said panicking a bit before blasting a sealsdramon in the face.

Beelzemon looked nervous, "This don't look good," he said, "Ai, Mako, you two take cover. I'll handle this." Behemoth converted to purple light and jumped onto his right arm. It reconfigured into a large energy cannon with a mouth-like nozzle. Then the metal portion of his body and clothes turned became a lighter metallic grey while his eyes turned from red to green, like the eyes he had as Impmon. Then a large pair of raven's wings grew from his back and a smaller pair appeared closer to his waist. "Beelzemon's in BlastMmode and ready to fight," he said as his cannon started charging up. "Shoot the big guy." gibbered Matt before blasting a few rookies who tried to chase Ai and Mako. "Caution...ammo low." chimed his gun. "Oh nuts." said Matt, firing the last few rounds into the nearest champion level before punching a rookie in the face.

Meanwhile, the other three had Biomerged and were taking down several Commandramon and Sealsdramon. Once the way was cleared, they focused on Chaosdramon. There was a large explosion as their Lightning Joust, Spirit Strike, and Stardust Bombs hit. But when the smoke cleared, Chaodramon wasn't even dazed. Chaosdramon laughed loudly and said, "Fools, you think you can penetrate Red Digizoid that easily? CHAOS CRUNCHER!" His right drill-like claw hit the Biomerged Digimon surprisingly quickly, causing them to be knocked away. "You cannot hope to stop me. I will destroy every human in this city. Let's start with these two." He lifted his foot over Ai and Mako, preparing to stomp them out of existence.

Two blasts and a few sticky emp grenades bl;asted against his foot, followed by a burst from the EMp lighting gun. "You know what I really hate? big bullies like you." said Matt. He knew he had no chance but he'd be able to get this lummoxes attention long enough for beezlemon to get his tamers clear. While Beelzemon did a swan dive to grab his tamers, Chaosdramon shifted his attention towards Matt. "You are a fool to stand in my way. Even more so to do it without any help." "He's not by himself!" yelled Veemon as he stood in front of Matt, "I'm standing right here." Chaosdramon laughed and said, "Valiant, but you don't have the strength to keep my attacks from destroying you, let alone your partner. But since you're interested in protecting him, I'll let you perish together. HYPER CANNONS!"

Time seemed to slow down as the cannons on Chaosdramon's back flipped forward to point at Matt and Veemon. The park was illuminated by the energy wave that exited the nozzles. None of the other Digimon could possibly make it time to stop the blast. But Matt's thoughts were running at the normal speed, 'No, you're wrong, he does have the strength to protect us. He's always had the strength, and so have I. It's called the will to live. And if we could combine that, we'd be unstoppable." Just as the blast was inches from their bodies, Matt's D-Arc flared like a supernova with dark blue light. Three words crossed its screen before both Veemon and Matt were engulfed in its light: Biomerge Digivolution Activate.

At first, Matt knew nothing but dark blue light. It surrounded him, covered and penetrated every part of his being, but it didn't blind him. Then he was aware of Veemon calling "Veemon Biomerge to..." Then Matt felt an unimaginable wave of power course through him. It modified him, making him stronger than any before. It was no longer his body or Veemon's, it was the body of a new being. A being whose name he knew. "UlforceVeedramon!"

The energy wave struck the orb of light and broke, neutralizing Chaosdramon's attack. "What is this?" he demanded. The orb of light faded to reveal a new Digimon. It looked like a knight wearing blue armor with a golden V on his chest. He had a cape that looked a lot like dragon's wings. His helmet bore a striking resemblance to Veemon's. An energy sword emerged from the bracelet on his right wrist while the bracelet on his left wrist created a small energy shield. Matt/UlForceVeedramon was surprised by the new feeling. He felt like he'd taken about 40 combat stimpacks. "Wow." he said before looking up at Chaosdramon. "You are in serious trouble. You're not going to be able to use your cursed rings on anymore innocent digimon." he said. The matt half thought 'Damn...did I say that?...thats so corny.'

"Whoa, who is that guy?" asked Gallantmon. Rika looked at Matt through Sakuyamon's eyes and got his info. "He's UlforceVeedramon, Mega-level Exalted Knight Digimon. The speed he gets from his Blue Digizoid armor makes his Ray of Victory and UlForce Saber uncatchable." UlForceveedramons next comment cemented any dooubts as to where Matt had gone. "C'mon tincan...I'll even give you a free shot." he said, infuriating chaosdramon who yelled "You will regret cheeking me, DESTROYER HOOK!" His right claw opened to fire an organic-looking missile. The missile flew straight at UlforceVeedramon, but he vanished before it could hit him. "What? Where did he go?" Then Chaosdramon heard two voices by his ear, "Peek-a-boo." Chaosdramon turned his head in time for UlforceVeedramon punch his cheek.

UlForceveedramon zipped around as Chaosdramon snapped and began rapid firing at him till the blue knight digimon called out 'UlFORCE SABER' and sliced one of the cannons in half before zipping up to join the other digimon. "Whatta rush." said the matt half to veemon in the privacy of their head. The Biomerged Digimon had all got back up by then and were starting to join in with the assault. Beelzemon placed Ai and Mako in a safe place and joined in, firing on his Death Slinger cannon.

Chaosdramon was evidentally starting to feel the pressure as he cried "DOOMSDAY COUNTDOWN!" The several guns on his body started firing wildly in every direction. "We got to stop him otherwise he'll flatten the whole city." said UlForceVeedramon, dodging the blasts and parrying a few of the others when he could. "We need to take him down," said MegaGargomon, "if only we could get through that armor of his."

Inside, UlForceVeedramon, Matt turned to Veemon. "Any ideas? Kinda new at this." he said before he thought "Where did my gun go?" UlforceVeedramon raised his right gauntlet and yelled out "VPulse Thunder" and a arc of red lightnig arced out and earthed itself in Chaosdramons chest, vaporising the armour into data. "I like." he said. "Everyone, hit that gap!" called UlForceVeedramon. "SHIELD OF THE JUST!" "GARGO MISSILE!" "AMTHYST WIND!" "CORONA DESTROYER!" Everyone aimed their attacks at Chaosdramon's chest, causing great damage. The V on UlforceVeedramon glowed as he called, "RAY OF VICTORY!" A beam fired out and joined the other attacks.

The attacks detonated in a huge multicoloured fireball. When the flames cleared a Machinedramon was standing in Chaosdramons place, a strange orb-shaped bot hovering over him, sucking up the data. "Ok...what's that?" UlForceveedramon said, pointing at the drone, which turned, blew a electronic raspberry at everyone and zoomed off, cackling. "What happened to Mr. Chaos?" asked Beelzemon. "Well, Chaosdramon's full name is Machinedramon Chaos Mode. I guess it went back to being a regular Machinedramon." "I am far greater than an average Machinedramon," said Machinedramon, "I swear that on my title of a Dark Master, you will pay for this. But not today." A large portal opened nearby and Machinedramon jumped through.

The group hovered down where their partners separated. Matt was a bit unsteady, falling on his butt. "Wow...gotta kick to it...hello, what have we got here?" he said, picking up a device that Machinedramon had been holding when the portal had activated. It was a nullspace jump engine. "Looks like Kurata didn't recruit locally...hope the tamers in that Machinedramon's dimensions kick his butt." he muttered, pocketing it.

--

Kurata could barely contain his glee as he examined the data the drone brought back. He was even able to bore out Devimon's ranting. "I can't believe you allowed Chaosdramon out there without bigger backup!" said the Fallen Angel Digimon, "I told you I needed him for my plans and he can't operate well if he's a disembodied bunch of data." "Relax," said Kurata, "I knew that they would only be able to break off his armor so I gave him that warp engine so that he'd be able to escape afterwards." This didn't please Devimon very well and he continued shouting at Kurata. Dante was watching from a good distance. He was rather annoyed at Chaosdramon, and by extension Kurata, for putting those devices on his men. So he had a broad smirk on his face as he watched Devimon berating the scientist.

Kurata then turned his attention from the armor data to the footage of the group fighting Chaosdramon. Kurata's eyes focused on UlforceVeedramon and said, "Hmm, another Royal Knight. And I thought Gallantmon would be trouble. Oh well, this will make it all the more worthwhile when I eventually destroy him. Now that I have the last piece I need."

But then a flash of purple light caught his eye. He shifted his attention to Beelzemon, who was using his Corona Blaster attack on the Commandramon and Sealsdramon. "Hmm, what kind of Digimon is that? Computer, analyze subject's identity." The computer scanned over Beelzemon's image for a few seconds before it beeped, "Identification complete," and showed the following info:

_Name: Beelzemon, currently in Blast Mode  
Level: Mega  
Type: Demon Lord  
Attribute: Virus  
Lower Digivolutionary Forms: Impmon (Rookie), Yaamon (In-Training)  
Attacks: Double Impact, Darkness Claw, Corona Blaster, Corona Destroyer  
Equipment: Berenhena shotguns, Behemoth motercycle, Death Slinger cannon_

Kurata raised his eyebrows. "Now that's interesting and very familiar," he said, "Computer, cross-reference Beelzemon and Belphemon." Devimon caught that and paused in his ranting. In even less time that was required to look up Beelzemon's identity, the computer beeped, "Match found: Both Digimon are members of group known as the Seven Great Demon Lords, a group of powerful Virus-type Digimon that were part of an insurrection in the Digital World which nearly caused its destruction. They were defeated and sealed in the Dark Area. Each member is associated with one of the Seven Deadly Sins; Beelzemon represents Gluttony while Belphemon represents Sloth."

"So, another Demon Lord, eh?" said Kurata, "This merits investigation." "I wouldn't do that," said Devimon. "Why not?" said Kurata, "I thought you stood for everything dark and evil." "I do, but this type of evil is too much for you to control." "What do you mean? I controlled Belphemon easily enough." "He was partly asleep the whole time. And when you did wake him up, you had fuse with him and even then you lost control for a little while." Devimon glanced at Beelzemon on the screen, "Besides, I don't think that's the Beelzemon of lore. The real Beelzemon would never join with humans. There's no point in pursuing him." Kurata sighed and said, "I suppose you're right. Besides, I don't really need him. Now that I have all the data I need, I can put my real project in action."


	10. Chapter 10

**Digimon, Dr Kurata and digimon tamers is property of Bandai.**

**Nullspace, Matt and Exo-Gene inc are my property. Mark is the property of my co-author, Cydra. **

**C.P.S Chronicles: Digital Conspiracy**

**Chapter 10: Female Strength**

**Sol system**

The remains of Balwak had been mostly missed by NASA and other earth space agencies, however the tiny signal beaming from the wreckage was not meant to be found by earth. A tear in space appeared not far from the wreck of the station and a scarab-shaped vessel floated into space. Aboard, several dozen mercenaries and members of the NSC's elite Space Search & Rescue division stood at various consoles. "I'm telling you, captain. It can't be from the wreck...that place is fried," said a technician to the captain. "It could have disattached before it exploded. Or imploded, however it is with space stations. Anyways, I want it onboard anyways," said the captain. The tech shrugged and turned on the comm. "Lynch...get your ass to the airlock, you're going out for a walk," he said.

--

Chloe sighed as she put the final part of her suit on in the airlock. She was, not for the first time, doubting if becoming a mercenary had been a good idea. Nobody gave her or her brother any respect at all. The airlock light came on as it finished cycling and it opened. It was clear that it had been an accident. Several small bits floated into the airlock at once, bouncing gently of the armoured foot of her spacesuit. A few clicks of the controls and Chloe floated out into the void. Earth was visible simply as a blue and green marble in space, the moon less then a marble.

"Ok, I'm at the remains of the lab section...looks mostly intact...I might be able to get the black box," she said, as she floated into a largely intact section. As she floated through the ruins, she noticed that there were several cryogenic chambers, like someone was keeping live things in storage. All of them seemed empty, and yet one's lights were on. "Ok, you're at the signals location, can you see it?" said the captain over the comm. Chloe was looking around. "Yea...I think so...must be a child...too short for the observation window," she said, disengaging the clamps holding the pod in place. "Hey captain...this looks like a genetic research lab," she added. There was the sound of computer keys being pressed over the comm. "Can't be, nothing like that in the station's specs...should be a computer outlet...download its files." Chloe spotted the outlet fast and was quick to get the info. She gently pushed the pod out the station, careful not to let it be damaged

She quickly returned back to the airlock and back inside the ship. "You sure this thing's not a Xenomorph?" asked the captain. "No sir, this being is not part of any hive mind." "Alright then, let's warm it up." A button sequence on the side of the pod was activated, causing the insides to slow unfreeze. When the pod opened, everyone took one look and Chloe voiced their opinions, "Is this a joke?" The occupant looked somewhat like a yellow lizard, though it was hard to tell as it was wearing the fur of a purple and lavender wolf-like creature. It had a blue and pink design on its belly and a horn projecting from its forehead. "What is this? A stuffed animal?" said the captain. "Believe it or not sir," said the technician, "that thing's alive. Platypi were considered fictional until they were brought back to Europe you know." The captain glared at the medtech. "So...what is it, cleverdick?" he snarled. Chloe interrupted. "Sh, it's waking up," she said. Indeed the creature was waking up. The creature opened its red-irised eyes and looked around in confusion. "Where am I?" it asked. From the lilt in its voice, it was apparently female. Chloe pushed the captain back. "It's ok, you're safe now, where's the rest of the crew?" she asked kindly. "I don't really remember," said the creature, "All I remember is being forced into that tube. I remember one of those men saying 'I don't care if Devimon wants her for a pet project, she's been busting too many cages.' Then I guess I've been asleep." The captain pushed up. "Who's Devimon? Was he the guy who destroyed the station?" he asked till Chloe and the medtech pushed him out, the medtech saying, "I don't care if you are in charge, she's my patient and needs rest, OUT!" Chloe turned back to the strange creature and said, "Don't worry. Just concentrate on resting for now. My name's Chloe. What's your?" "My name is Gabumon," said the creature.

The medtech walked up. "I'm sorry to disturb you, I'll leave you alone in a minute, but I need some details like the code for your home universe. I'm sure people will be looking," he said, holding an infopad "Universe? Am I in a different Digital World? I don't seeing this many humans in my world, at least not humans this old." The medtech held a scanner over her and said, "This is odd. I'm getting a genetic signature, but it looks more like a computer program." Chloe looked over the guys shoulder at the readout, then back at Gabumon. "This isn't possible, it was a damn cartoon back home" she said, being a bit faster on the uptake then her missing brother. "Lady, you'd surprised how many universes are 'damn cartoons' in other universes," said the medtech, "Would you care to enlighten me on what you're thinking?" "Just this anime show called Digimon." "There's an anime show about us?" asked Gabumon. The medtech slammed a hand over the shocked Chloe's mouth. "She didn't say that," he said so smoothly you could have used his voice for ice skating before pushing Chloe out and saying, "You know we're not supposed to tell things like that. Dammit, I'd best set up the mind wiper, she's obviously not from Nullspace." "Then wherever she's from, that must be where Matt is," said Chloe, "We can't wipe her just yet. Besides, she's made out of data, you could completely delete her." The medtech shrugged. "C'mon, it's been two months," he said and was cut off as the captain sounded over the intercomm. "Chloe, get your smegging butt back out there, you've got more datacores to recover."

Meanwhile, Kurata was busy looking over the Machine Digmon data he has collected. "Hmm, remove this, add a couple of those. Yes, there's a pattern forming. Most intriguing." Just then one of his lackies came in. "Sir, we've just detected a ship entering Earth's orbit." Kurata looked up. "Is it the NSC military?" he said, as Mark came in to see what was going on. The lacky shook his head. "No, looks like a Search and Rescue ship. They're scouring the station wreckage." he said. Kurata shrugged. "Turn on the old defense mines…destroy it," he said. "Uh, is that really necessary sir?" asked Mark. "Of course it is," snapped Kurata, "If they find one shred of evidence of what we've done on there, it'll be our ruins. Don't forget I gave you that tongue, so you better watch how you use it." Mark walked out, gloomily, wondering for once if he was on the right side...

--

The captain was at the controls when one of the guys monitoring the sensors suddenly called out in surprise. "Sir? I got something weird. What do you make of it?" he said. The captain walked over and saw the sea urchin-like image of an NSC orbital plasma mine closing on the viewer, straight for the bridge. "Oh shit..." he managed before the mine tore into the bridge.

--

Chloe was thrown off her feet as the explosion shook the ship like a tin can in a food mixer. Sparks flew from overloading consoles and several cables flew down. "That doesn't sound good," she said as the 'abandon ship' alarm sounded. She quickly ran back to where Gabumon was and grabbed her. "We have to get out of here, now," she said. Gabumon looked confused and frightened but allowed herself to be led. Outside in the now smoke-filled corridor, the medtech was seen waving to them...till an explosion engulfed him and the vacuum door shot down, sealing the breached section. "Oh great," said Chloe sarcastically.

--

Two figures were watching the Search & Rescue ship's demise with interest. "Well...she isss his sister. Is this...wise, Cydra?" said Mr. Black as the image focused on Chloe and Gabumon as they searched for an escape pod that was intact. "I believe so," replied a calm voice that had a metallic hum. "If you were to check the current timestream direction, you'll see she'll have a significant role in the balance of the multiverse." Mr. Black raised an eyebrow. "You think that I...didn't? I know her...role exactly...a role she is...probably better...not having...mutation is never...a welcome experience," he said in his stop-start style of speaking. "I have to agree, but you have to look further than that. It is far more positive than that. Besides, her life is closely intertwined with Matt, as well as two others in the future. Surely you do not wish to deprive them of that?" Mr. Black sighed. "As you wish...do not interfere with her brother..." he said and vanished in a flash of light, leaving the shadowy figure of Cydra alone. "Well, I better get cracking," said Cydra, "that hull won't last for too long." In a flash of bright blue light, he vanished.

--

"Alert...multiple hull breaches...reactor core overloading," said the computer in a bored tone as the last of the mines hit. The explosions did not though as the damage had set off a chain reaction. Chloe pondered this as she kicked the last of the remaining escape pods. It was like the rest, burnt out by the mines. "Stupid smegging lowest bidder...when I get my hands on this Romanov guy, I'll..." she muttered, wringing the air in frustration, much to Gabumon's puzzlement and slight amusement. "We're going to need a miracle to escape in this thing," muttered Chloe. "That is exactly in my bailiwick," replied a voice. Suddenly the metal in the area started glowing light blue and closed in together closer. Then in a bright flash of light, a strange figure appeared. It looked like a phantom, except its cloak was made of countless tiny computer screens, the hands that showed from the sleeves were robotic, and where the face would be was just one larger computer screen. Chloe's flash training had covered known ancients...sadly for Cydra, his last 'temper' outburst had earned him a contract from NSC security. Chloe had her gun out, only for its readout to turn off when Cydra looked at it. "I'm afraid we don't have time for that," said Cydra, "I'm only allowed here for a short time so you must take the pod and escape while you can." "And why should we trust you?" said Chloe. "Because I'm your only hope of surviving this room. And you might affect the survival of countless others; natural and artificial. But you're going to need this where you're going." With a flick of his hand, a lavender and white device appeared in Chloe's hand. Chloe looked at it and looked up to see that Cydra had gone, but the escape pod now looked brand new and top of the line. A distant explosion from the depths of the ship reminded her of her and Gabumon's predicament and she pulled the pods hatch open. "Get in," she said to Gabumon and piled in after the Digimon. She quickly activated the escape pod and turned the thrusters on full. The pod blasted out of the doomed ship as it completely exploded in a bright fireball.

--

Mark watched the ship explode over the feed from a probe with gloom...and so he was the only one to see the pod fly out the blast and ram the probe, terminating the feed. "The hell? Someone get Kurata," he said. Kurata was not pleased in the least. "Can't anything be completely removed when I asked it to be?" he grumbled, "Do you have any idea who's in that pod?" "It says here that it's one 'Chloe Lynch' and that Gabumon we had on the station," said Mark. Kurata glared like Mark had just called him what he was thinking (which is sadly unprintable) and said coldly, "Take Don and Dallas and bring her and the mongrel Digimon back here. Think you can manage that?" "Yeah, sure," said Mark. As he walked off, he thought to himself, 'Is it me or does he wake up crankier every day?'

**Tokyo Dock Warehouses**

**N.S.S Skyraid**

Matt was rushing around the ships comm room when a yawning Veemon wandered in. "Why're you up so early, Matt? Its 3am." Matt rushed over to a read out and nodded. "A pod's landed in the forest overlooking the town. Maybe it's another merc or maybe it's a droppod, that'll mean the NSC's finally here," he said excitedly. "You sure it's them?" asked Veemon. "Positive, we better get there quickly. They'll want answers and we want a ride out." "Yeah, sure, out," mumbled Veemon before falling asleep again. Matt sighed and pressed the red alert button, causing Veemon to shoot up and grip the roof light. "C'mon, the faster we do this, the quicker we're back in bed," he said to the now-glaring Digimon.

Soon afterwards, Matt was driving towards where the pod's signal was coming from. "Isn't this exciting?" he said, "Soon we'll be able to get the NSC to come here, pick me up, and put Kurata behind bars. Won't that be great?" He was answered by a snore as Veemon fell asleep again and put his head on the dashboard. Matt sighed and pressed what he thought was the horn, only for a rocket to blow up a road sign. "I really gotta finish reading what all these buttons do," he said.

--

The pod had landed in a small lake in the mountains, beaching at the edge. Chloe was sitting on top of it, waiting for Gabumon to come back. "I certainly hope we find a way back here," said Chloe. "It seems like a nice place to visit, but I think the winter's coming and it's going to get pretty cold." "It'll be a lot colder for you if you don't throw that gun in the lake," said a voice by her ear. Two strange creatures walked out the trees; an elephant-like one and a fire-patterned bug holding a rather lethal-looking plasma rifle. "Boy, they have really weird wildlife here," said Chloe. Gabumon had just come back and as soon as she saw the Bio-Hybrids, she got in front of Chloe. "Better stay back," said Gabumon, "These guys work for the guy wanted to experiment on me." Chloe nodded...and kneed Mark, who'd been the voice in her ear, between the legs before pushing his now-rigid form in the lake. Dallas glared "Oh, you are dead you bi..." he started before Gabumon yelled "BLUE BLASTER!" and shot a blue energy stream, exploding the gun in the unlucky hybrid's hands. Don glared down at Gabumon and said, "You think you can beat us? We're Armor level, that's higher than you. TURBINE WAVE!" The propellers in his ears started spinning fast, causing a large gust of wind that blew Gabumon over. Gabumon flew into Chloe and knocked them both down. Mark, now in human form limped out the lake. "Kill..." he started in a squeak before trying again, "Kill...her." he managed just as a horn sounded and what looked like an SUV flew out the treeline and literally landed on Don's head. The Cyborg Digimon hybrid was knocked out cold by the hit. Then to Chloe's surprise, Matt climbed out of the SUV with a very scared-looking blue lizard-like creature and said, "No need to thank me, I've dealt with these losers be- Chloe?!" said Matt as soon as he saw his sister. Matt shook it off, "We'll talk later, idiot bashing now." At this Mark snapped. "I'M NOT AN IDIOT!" he yelled and attempted to rush Matt, only for Chloe to trip him. "Like my brother said, an idiot," she said before looking at her brother. "I think you have some explaining to do," she said. As the four walked back to the SUV, a familiar device, a digital trap like the one Matt encountered on his first day fell out of the dazed Marks hands and turned on, quickly tuning to attract a suitable target...

After they got the SUV off of Don's body, they started driving back into town. "So what brings you here?" asked Matt. "Well, when your spaceship is blown up by plasma mines, you have to head for the nearest habitable planet," said Chloe. "Wait, you're saying that you crashed here, no one in the NSC knows where you are, and you can't contact them." "Hmm, perfect score, there's something you don't see everyday." Matt nodded, set the car to autopilot, and started hitting his head on the wheel. "This...really...SUCKS!" he muttered as the warehouse came into view. Impmon could be seen knocking on the side of the ship, apparently wanting in. Impmon turned to see the four of them driving forward in the SUV. "It's about time you got here. Just where have you been all- Hello!" said the Small Demon Digimon as Gabumon climbed out of the SUV. He smoothed back the hair on his head and said, "Where are my manners? I didn't realize you had a lady present." Matt and Veemon exchanged looks and both gave Chloe some space or, from their point of view, a run up. Chloe glared down at Impmon and said, "Listen pal, I'm not flattered that easily and I'd think I prefer someone in my own species." Impmon ignored and walked up to Gabumon. "What's a sweet-looking thing like you doing in a place like this?" he said, taking her hand. Gabumon looked nervous, having no idea what to say or do. A second later, Chloes fist came down on the top of Impmon's head like a very localized meteor strike. "Back off, jerk features," she said before looking at Matt. "You know this guy?" she said coldly. Matt nodded. "Thats Impmon..." he said, nudging the aimlessly-grinning Impmon who was now gibbering a bit.

Matt sighed and dragged Impmon in via his foot to sleep off the minor concussion in the medlab. "You ok?" he asked Impmon as he did, just getting a stream of nonscence. "Guess we'll have to wait for him to come around before he could tell us what he wanted," said Veemon, "Didn't anybody tell you that you shouldn't shoot the messenger, or crown him in this case." Chloe shrugged. "I have a thing about perverts," she said sweetly. Matt went up to Veemon. "She has a bit of a temper." he said. Veemon looked at Impmon who in a daze was talking to the med computer in his dazed state and back at the silently-fuming Chloe. "Point taken," he said at last.

Just then, Matt got a knock on the door. He opened it and saw that the Digidestined were there, along with Ryo. "Hey guys, what's up?" he said as he let them in. "We think it's time you met the other Tamers," said Ryo. He paused when he noticed Chloe, "Who's that?" "That's my sister, Chloe," said Matt, emphasizing the word 'sister'. Terriermon strutted over to Gabumon and said, "Hi, nice to meet ya." Impmon at that point managed to get some senses back and staggered out. "What's with the get together?" he moaned before seeing Chloe and seeming to suddenly teleport behind Renamon, such was the speed he moved. Monodramon wandered up to Gabumon. "Hi there...so...who are you with?" he said. Impmon marched up to Monodramon and said, "Hey conehead, don't even think about it! I got here first!" "You?" said Terriermon, "Like she could possibly like you!" "Better than you, rabbit face!" The three Digimon soon got into a large fight that kicked up a lot of dust. Gabumon was not quite sure how to react to these Digmon fighting over her.

Guilmon said weakly. "What are you fighting for?" only for both Monodramon and Impmon to say, "Shut up, Pineapple head!" Guilmon jumped back and Gabumon glared at them and walked up to Guilmon. "Why don't you show me around?" she said, glaring at Monodramon and Impmon. Guilmon, apparently oblivious to the situation, said, "Sure thing. I know this great place where they make yummy bread." "Hang on a minute!" yelled Terriermon as he ran after them. "Don't go with him, babe!" yelled Impmon as he pursued them. "Wait for me!" cried Monodramon as he brought up the rear. Matt watched them go out. "Looks like Gabumon will be just fine...so Mr. Black sent you along for the ride too, eh?" he said to Chloe. "Actually it was Cydra, that guy from that contract list back at HQ, believe it or not," said Chloe, "He showed up to save me and Gabumon from... Do you need something?" she said in an annoyed tone to the boys who were gawking at her. "Nope," said Takato, Henry, and Ryo. Rika, looking rather annoyed herself, pulled Ryo away by the ear and said, "Let's go Renamon." Renamon shook her head and said, "Men." Matt also glared. "Erm...MY SISTER!" he reminded them and when that didn't work he said in a level voice. "If you don't stop I'll turn on the defense lasers." "Ok, ok," said Henry, "not like you don't get that way when Endra's around." "Ix-nay, ix-nay," warned Matt between his teeth. "Who is this 'Endra'?" said Chloe, smiling in a way Matt knew meant weeks of teasing. Matt glared, suddenly very tempted to carry out his threat when the ship's computer interrupted. A computerized snigger suggested it had been watching the past few minutes. "Sir? If you're quite busy destroying your self esteem, a digital field, type 6, is emerging in sector 12-A outside the city limits." Matt, for once relieved that a Digimon has Bioemerged, said, "Ok then, we better move out and take care of it." He paused and looked at Veemon, "Should we go get their Digimon?" The computer beeped again. "I took the liberty of texting their mobile devices. Sensors detect they are on course to intercept." "Right then, let's move out," said Matt. He paused to say to Chloe, "We better go get Gabumon. And you aren't hearing anything about Endra until I'm ready." Chloe smirked. She didn't need to hear anything. She'd already gotten the computer to download a copy of Matt's logs to her wrist computer earlier.

The other Digidestined were still in the warehouse grounds. "GUYS...WE GOT A VISITOR!" yelled Matt to them, pointing to his digivice. The group needed little more provocation and quickly headed for the SUV. "One at a time! It's new!" called Matt. Finally he jumped in the driving seat. "Buckle up." he said and hit the accelerator. The Combine tech-augmented SUV leapt forward like a viper, smashing the gates apart and tearing down the road.

**Forest **

**10 miles outside Tokyo City Limits**

The digital field was easy to find, having covered half the forest area. "Looks like a big one, just as well I've gotten the hand of this Biomerging," Matt said, pulling to a stop in the car park for a walk path into the forest. The others got out of the SUV shakily. "Does he always drive this way?" asked Takato. "Unfortunately, yes," said Chloe. Matt was looking at the fog. "Looks big, I hope it's not another Mega, would be how my week's been going recently," he said. As soon as they entered the fogbank, they soon caught the scent of flowers in the air. "Does anyone else smell roses?" asked Rika. "Well this is a pleasant change," said Ryo, "Normally the Digimon I fight are rather pungent." "Do you always have to bring up your track record?" snapped Rika. Matt pulled out the EMP lightning gun and clicked the safety off before tossing it to Chloe. "Just in case," he said, pulling an EMP grenade off his belt.

Meanwhile, in the mist, the Digimon who has Bioemerged was watching the group. 'This should be interesting,' she thought, 'As much as I'd prefer to be back in the Digital World, I could go for a good fight right now. Let's see if I can affect these humans like the Digimon back home.'

Matt and Chloe were hanging back in the group a bit. "So, what's your D-ark look like?" said Matt, showing Chloe his digivice. Chloe pulled out hers, "Hard to believe I got this from Cydra? Do you remember what he did to get that bounty on him?" she said "Yeah, imagine turning someone into a pickaxe, particularly a council member. I wonder why he did that?" Matt said with a smirk "I think it had something to do with the mining that council member commissioned," Chloe said. Matt nodded before looking up to see the guys were missing. Rika came round the corner to see what was holding everyone up and also noticed the absence. "Er, this isn't good," said Veemon, looking around. Just then, the scent of roses got even stronger. "Whoa, where's that coming from?" asked Matt, "It smells nice." "Yeah, real nice..." said Veemon in a drowsy voice. Matt looked over at Veemon. "Erm...you ok?" he said to Veemon who wandered aimlessly off the path, mumbling about the 'nice smell'. "Hey Veemon, wake up...OW!" he said, grabbing Veemon's arm, only for the Digimon to growl in a way very much like Guilmon when he was feral and slash Matt's hand before going into the forest. "Bloody smeg," said Matt

The five of them followed Veemon and soon came upon the others. All of the boys looked zonked out with the same dreamy grin on their faces. Matt looked at them. "It's like they're waiting, man I've never been gladder for those immunity injections," he muttered. Chloe was also staring. "They look drunk...if it affects guys why isn't...oh nuts," she said, looking over to see Matt, now with the same stupid grin staggering towards the group. "Don't try to stop him, you saw Veemon and Matt's got a gun," Chloe said. "What's going on here?" demanded Rika. Chloe checked her wristcomp which replied, "The air is currently filled with a powerful pheromone which has a distinct affect on males. This pheromonic gas seems to be spread at a steady rate." The computer chimed, "Indeed, I estimate it will reach city limits in under 12 hours at current rate. Given the violent affects on males, riot conditions will most certainly occur," it said, showing a map of the area with a red area slowly filling it. Chloe quietly swore and Rika said, "Wait, I thought Digimon were genderless." "That's not quite right," said Renamon, "true most Digimon are asexual in nature, mostly the machine types, but with some Digimon, their personality reflects a certain gender trait and so they assume it. Of course, there are some species of Digimon that all possess one gender trait."

The computer chimed again, "A new life signal has entered local area...intercept in 5 seconds." A figure was walking out of the forest. At that Chloe's digivice chimed and displayed info on someone called 'Rosemon'. Into the clearing stepped a Digimon that looked like a beautiful woman wearing a tight red costume, a white cape, black boots, a green-leaf like collar, and thorny vines wrapped around her torso and arms. Her head had long blonde hair and the top half was mostly obscured by the large rose blossom on it. Gabumon growled ferally and cried, "You!" "What?" asked Chloe. "She left me out in the open when those humans came looking for Digimon," growled Gabumon. Rosemon pouted and said, "Well, she was getting too much attention from other Digimon. I can't stand too much competition." Rosemon smirked. "So you're a humans pet now?" she said to Gabumon. Gabumon glared. "At least I'm not a hussie," she retorted. Rosemon didn't seem phased by this. "It seems you still need putting in your place. Gentlemen?" she said. The boys all turned and growled, advancing. Matt obviously being the most dangerous as he'd just drawn an automatic laser pistol.

"This isn't good," said Rika. "We'll have to fight back," said Renamon, "but don't try to hurt them." She jumped forward and kicked Guilmon in the head before leaping onto Takato's back and then rebounding back. Chloe had to leap behind a boulder as Matt opened fire, peppering the area with laser bolts. "This is nuts," she said, pulling her own blaster out and setting it to non-lethal bursts. "Sorry, Bro," she said, standing up and firing a few bursts, causing Matt to fall down, stunned. Rika, however, was being forced back by Ryo and Monodramon. "I don't want to hurt you," she said. "But the fairest Rosemon commanded us to," said Ryo. "Okay, now I want to hit you," said Rika, swinging a fist at his head. Gabumon leaped on Monodramon and pushed him aside before Chloe stunned Ryo in the back. "This happen often?" asked Chloe, clocking a growling Henry on the nose." Digimon biomerging, yes. Digimon controlling our friends, no," said Rika as she punted Impmon away. Chloe knocked Veemon and Terriermon's heads together and turned to Rosemon. "Right, now then, looks like we have to do some pruning," she said.

"Don't even think about it, girl. I'm a Mega, you don't enough firepower to singe a leaf," said Rosemon. Suddenly there was a flash of light and suddenly Sakuyamon appeared and whacked Rosemon with her staff. "I'll explain this later," said Sakuyamon to Chloe. Chloe shrugged, clocking Matt again who was coming round and in the process of saying "What the hell just happ..." Gabumon looked down at Matt. "Erm...I think he was alright that time." Chloe shrugged, "I know, he shouldn't have shot at me." Rosemon called out "FORBIDDEN TEMPTATION!" and she became surrounded with a red aura, through which her shapely figure showed through quite easily. The boys sighed in admiration while Sakuyamon was thrown into a tree.

Chloe looked at the EMP rifle. "C'mon, work you useless combine tech," she muttered before succeeding in shooting, the bolt taking out a tree stump between Rosemon and Sakuyamon and getting the boys' attention again. As the boys started to advance on them, Chloe said to Gabumon, "Can't you do something?" "I could digivolve, but I think we need you to swipe a Digivolution card through the digivice first. They'll probably have a card on them." Chloe began going through Matt's pockets. "Meh, mum always said we should share, " she said before holding up a card and swiping it. "Gabumon digivolve to... Garurumon!" Her partner transformed; the fur coat she was wearing before covering her body as she took on the form of a large wolf. Chloe grinned. "Always liked wolves, hello, what we got here," she said, holding up an EMP grenade that immediately started beeping. "ACK!" she yelled and tossed it where Rosemon caught it curiously. "What curious device is this?" she said. Suddenly the grenade went off, giving the equivalent of an ear-shattering shriek to Rosemon who dropped the device and clutched her head. "WOLF CRY!" called Garurumon as she let out a sonic howl, turning Rosemon's headache into a migrane. Chloe fired another bolt from the EMP gun, this time striking dead centre in Rosemon's chest. "Gotcha you..." she began followed by several strange alien syllables that the translator wouldn't translate. (OOC: Mostly cause they're very rude.)

Sakuyamon jumped back into the clearing and said, "Ready for more?" Rosemon held up her hand and said, "No, I yield. You are the winner." Sakuyamon blinked and said, "Odd, no one normally yields to us before." Chloe shrugged. "Mostly cause they wanna sucker punch you...Captain Leyton said that," she said, walking forward, blaster ready before pointing at the boys. "Undo that before I make your last few seconds hurt," she said. "Very well," said Rosemon and she snapped her fingers. The perfume in the air faded away and the boys soon came to their senses. "Ow," moaned Matt, "Why do I hurt all over?" He then looked at Veemon who was still out cold. "And why does Veemon have a bruise on his..." he said and stopped, glaring at Rosemon. "Are you guys sure we have to give her a chance to leave peacefully?" he said angrily. Then Matt noticed Garurumon and said, "Ah c'mon! I had to have a psycho tank about to blast me to get Flamedramon going and her partner digivolves just like that?! I hate this place." Chloe was very impressed though. "This is so cool," she said, her 'tough mercenary' exterior breaking in her enthusiasm. Matt couldn't help but grin. It was the most cheerful he'd seen Chloe since they'd arrived. The other Digimon were looking pretty dizzy. "What a rush," said Impmon, "Now, where were we?" He then noticed Garurumon in her larger, growling state. "Eh, maybe that can wait till later."

Matt looked over at Chloe...then looked around to see a data drone like the one from when Chaosdramon was around, hovering expectantly. He shot its anti-gravity engine and looked into the camera. "If that's you on the other end, doc, you're in big trouble. There's two of us now!" he said and shot it.

**Lab One**

Kurata was banging furiously on his desk and cursing loudly at the now, static filled screen. "Those blasted Lynches are as bad as the Damons!" he yelled. "They keep getting in my way!" "Personally, I think we should do something about that," said Dante, "We should stop lollygaging behind the scenes and attack them straight out." Kurata looked thoughtful about this, "Perhaps, I don't really need them to crack open any more machine Digimon." The comm beeped and Devimon appeared. He got their attention by speaking "I really don't think drawing the attention of the human armies before you're ready will work." he said, making the two humans jump. "Where is my project, doctor?" he said. "It's nearly finished," said Kurata, "I've compiled the correlating data together. It's rather interesting really. As if they all somehow evolved from a common ancestor. I should be able to create a digital DNA sequence by tonight."

Then an idea came to Kurata's mind, almost as if someone had put it there. "I have another idea. How about we apply the bio-hybridizing formula to those brats? That way they'll be working for us instead of against us." "Didn't that already happen with the girl?" asked Dante. "That was different, that was an accident. We'll be doing this on purpose and with more suitable Digimon." Dante frowned. "I don't know, if it backfires we'll be in deep trouble and it would definitely set off some alarms at the NSC..." he began before he was knocked against the wall and lifted off his feet by Kurata, whose eyes had gone red. "It wasn't a suggestion," he said in a different voice before lowering Dante and having his eyes revert back. Dante hightailed it out of there before stopping outside his room. He turned and saw Mark. "Get your team, we're going into Tokyo tonight with everything. Those brats are gonna learn the meaning of hurt. Go find my brother and tell him, then report to the armoury for gear." Mark opened his mouth to reply and was drowned out. "YOU WANT TO TELL KURATA WHY IT'S A BAD IDEA?" yelled Dante.

Mark just stood there as Dante marched away. Then he numbly walked to another room. Inside, a machine was compiling data into a steady stream which was being beamed into a digiegg. Mark looked at the egg and wondered aloud, "Am I really on the right side?"

**Matt's finally got some help in the form of his sister. Also…what sort of powers will this new digimon have once Kurata has finished it? Find out next time and Please read and review.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Digimon, Dr Kurata and digimon tamers is property of Bandai.**

**Nullspace, Matt and Exo-Gene inc are my property. Mark is the property of my co-author, Cydra. **

**C.P.S Chronicles: Digital Conspiracy**

**Chapter 11 'Dire Consequences'**

**12 miles off Tokyo coast and approaching…**

Several helicopters were flying from Lab One to Tokyo. They were each fill to the brim with mercenaries holding weaponry. Inside one of them, Mark and Dante were sitting together. A sergeant handed Dante a datapad. "We've got projected collateral damage...there's not a chance we won't attract the local cops." Dante shrugged. "The men need some target practise anyway..." he said with a smirk.

"I don't like this," said Mark, "There's going to be so many innocent people hurt." "Ah, put a sock in it," said Dante, "It's better than be cooped up in that lab." Mark glared at him, but didn't say anything. Although his hand did linger on his Digivice. Dante looked at Mark. "you're going after the lynches with squad 2...squad 3...you're for that takato kid...other squads are to pick targets as necessary." he said. The pilot yelled into the back. "ETA to dropzone in 5 minutes...everyone gear up..." he said as the radio began to crackle with requests from Tokyo airport for their identification.

**Osaka Park**

**Tokyo**

Meanwhile, Matt and Chloe were sitting together in the park. "So, how long do you think we'll be stuck here?" asked Chloe. "Well, since it's been over two months for me, it could take a while. I have a feeling if Mr. Black and Cydra want us here, it has to be for something extremely important."

Chloe watched as Gabumon and Veemon played tag on the grass. "The NSC will have to send someone..." she said, slightly worried. Matt shrugged. "They didn't for me..." he said in a matter of fact voice. A sudden droning got the two mercs attention. A black, futuristic helicopter was hovering overhead. Matt said slowly. "I suppose ots too much to hope thats from an NSC ship..." he said and the two had to jump behind their bench as energy bolts shot from a sidegun on the aircraft. Chloe yelled at Matt. "What is it with you and villains? You're like a trouble magnet." Veemon and Gabumon had hid behind a tree as the choppers other doorgun fired at them and several armoured figures abseiled down to the grass.

"No time to talk, time to digivolve," said Matt as he pulled out his Digivice and swiped a card through. Chloe did the same and soon, Flamedramon and Garurumon were ready to battle. The helicpoter turned its guns at the two champions, churning up the grass around them till sirens got its attention. Two cop cars had just pulled up. Matt looked over at them, between shooting at the attacking mercs. "Those nits...GET BACK!" he yelled at them. The cops dived away from their cars just in time as a plasma orb blasted their squad cars into scrap metal. The chopper tried to turn back when Garurumon fired her howling blaster attack into its tail rotor, sending it ground wards with a thump.

Mark was sent flying out by the crash. He landed heavily on the ground, his bones remaining intact. He looked up to see two blasters pointed at his face. "Don't move an inch," warned Matt. The co-pilot staggered out and made a wild shot at Chloe only for Garurumon to tackle the guy into a tree so hard that the tree cracked. Matt smiled coldly. "Like I said...don't move..." Chloe looked furious. "You guys are complete idiots...and this is the last straw." she said, pressing her gun to Marks forehead. Matt said "Why weren't you joining in with your friends?"

Mark stared back at them and said, "Listen, I'm not liking this invasion plan any more than you do." "Invasion?!" yelled Matt, "They're sending in troops into this city?" said Chloe, shocked. "Yes, and they don't care who they hurt on their way to you. And frankly, I can't stomach it." Said Mark. Matt and Chloe looked at each other as Flamedramon and Garurumon came over. Matt turned on his comm and selected takato's mobile. "Takato? Hello?" he said, but only getting silence.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Matsuki's unable to answer his cell phone right now. May I take a message?" said a familiar voice mockingly. "Dante! What have you done with Takato?" "Oh, he's fine right now. And he's about to be even better as soon BioChaosGallantmon starts tearing apart this city." Matt glared. "When I get my hands on you, I'll make you wish I'll just shoot you....do you get me you...you." he said, unable to find a word to describe what he thought. Chloe, meanwhile was trying the other tamers and getting just dial tones. She shook her head at Matt to show her lack of success. Matt's glare increased. "You're dead, dante...I promise you." he said.

"Here, take this," said Mark as he gave them a small device, "It'll locate all Digivices and the Digimon they're connected to." Chloe looked at the device and asked, "Why give it to us?" "Because I'm through with this," said Mark as he walked off. Matt walked up and stopped him. "Not yet, you aren't...we need a ride..." he said Mark looked at him. "What?" he said. Matt smirked, already getting a idea, crazy though it was. "We need you to capture us." he said, smirking and causing Chloe and Mark to look confused

"What the heck are you talking about?" said Chloe. "Well, if he captures us, he'll have to take us to the prison at Lab One." He added a wink to the end. Chloe glared. "If this doesn't work, I'm going to haunt you." She said.

**Lab one**

Kurata was thinking about taking a nap when he got a call. He answered it and soon looked quite happy. "Devimon, guess what?" "What?" said the annoyed demonic Digimon. "They've just capture the Lynches and their Digimon and they're transporting them here." Devimon actually smiled. "And the other tamers? We don't want any...heroics." he said. "From what I've heard, they're being hybridized right now and that Ryo kid's flown the coop." said Kurata. "Excellent, but I think we have some time right now to finish that digi-egg."

The comm beeped again. "Erm...doctor? We've got a slight problem...the loyalty programming didn't take with that Guilmon tamer...he's escaped into the main complex...I don't know where he is." said the aide on the screen. "Well find him, a ChaosGallantmon shouldn't be that hard to find," responded Kurata. "Er, you do know that Guilmon have two evil Mega forms, right?" asked Devimon. The aide gulped at this. "Thats the second problem...it wasn't a gallantmon." he said and displayed a footage snippit from the lab, showing a megidramon tearing into the guards in the hybridization lab before smashing through the armoured doorway.

Devimon looked somewhat paler, "This isn't good. Megidramon's Digital Hazard is an incredibly dangerous threat, let alone that Megidramon's one of the strongest Dragon Digimon in the Digital World." "Well, this isn't the Digital World so the Digital Hazard should have no affect here," said Kurata, "But we should have men bring him down before he makes too much of a mess. But we need to focus on that digiegg."

As if Murphy's law was listening, the com, beeped again. "Sir? Transport 2-A isn't responding...the one with those mercs aboard." said the trooper. Kurata banged his hand on his desk. "Can anything else possibly go wrong today?!" he yelled. Devimon was the only who could see the angry red aura around Kurata as well as the only who knew what it meant. 'He's very close to awakening,' he thought, 'But I need him to finish that digiegg first.' He placed a hand on Kurata's shoulder and said calmly, "Let's take care of what's the most important right now, then we'll be able to deal with these troublemakers."

**Lab one Heliport**

The heliport was in total chaos. As soon as the chopper had landed, Mark, Matt, Chloe and the lynches digimon partners had piled out and set about beating the surface teams up. Matt pushed an unconscious guard over and grabbed his rifle. "This is almost fun…I know its good for my stress." He said. Chloe looked over at Mark. "Where's the prison area?" she said, still not trusting Mark.

"Well, it should be downstairs a couple of floors. Shouldn't be too hard to reach if we can keep this charade up, especially if Kurata's focusing on his project." "What project?" asked Chloe. Suddenly a great roar shook the entire complex. "What the heck was that?" asked Matt. Suddenly the five of them heard the flap of wings. They looked up to see Beelzemon Blast Mode coming down towards them. "Beelzemon, what are you doing here?" asked Matt. "Giving you guys a hand," he said, "Ai and Mako are safe with the other Tamers so I don't need to worry about them right now." "What other Tamers?" asked Chloe. Before Beelzemon could reply, the same roar shook the complex again. Beelzemon looked quite pale, "Oh no."

Just then, the hatchway into the complex opened and a squad of Dante's men ran out, firing desperately over their shoulder. A clawed hand shot out and pulled a slower merc back through the door with a shriek. "Ok...tell me that is NOT the project." said Matt, slashing a power boost card for Flamedramon.

--

Kurata was watching, now grinning. "I guess every cloud does have a silver lining." he said and beamed the footage into the cells of the other tamers, saying to them. "I thought you'd want to watch how your rescuers are doing." he said with a laugh. "Enough with your toying," said Devimon, "We must complete the project." "Right," said Kurata as he typed in the correct sequence into the keyboard. The code on the computer completed its download into the previously blank digiegg. Then Kurata pulled down a lever and said, "It's showtime!" An electrical surge went through the egg, giving the spark of life to the data inside.

The egg glowed then changed shape. When the light faded, a newly-created Digimon was where the egg was. It looked like a simple metal ball with two small eyes and a mouth with skull-like teeth. "Oremon," peeped the Fresh Digimon. Kurata smiled. "Devimon? Your new minion." he said as intruder alarms began to ring in the background, sounding "All containment teams to level 1. Renegade unit detected. Contain and neutralize!" said the computer over the announcement system.

--

The group was currently debating whether to go downstairs or not. Of course they had to go because their friends where down there, there was the matter of the enigmatic monster that was in the stairway. The 'monster' came into view and instantly the Lynches understood why Beezlemon was worried. "Oh my god." said Chloe as the creature came into view, tossing a security officer aside. What came out was definitely the scariest-looking Digimon that Matt had ever seen yet. It resembled a large demonic dragon with a long snakelike tail ending in a barb and bat-like wings with a flame-like pattern on them. There was a flashing symbol on its chest that made Matt instantly think of a hazard symbol. But the odd thing was that the armor on its head was green instead of red like the other parts.

"What the hell is that?" yelled Mark, firing a few blasts to no effect. Matt and Chloe also took aim and started shooting while Garurumon and Flamedramon rushed them, only to be hit so hard they reverted instantly. Chloe pulled out her beeping D-ark "Megidramon? He sounds a piece of work...his pictures wrong though." she said, looking at the picture briefly. Mark looked shaken, "I can't believe they took it this far," he said. "What are you talking about?" asked Matt. "Remember how Dante mentioned turning Takato into ChaosGallantmon? I think they got it wrong. Terribly wrong."

Matt looked over at the dragon digimon. "You're kidding me...thats Takato? We've gotta revert him somehow...or at least stem that temper...I gotta idea...keep him busy." he said, before running towards the door. Chloe yelled "MATTHEW!...that idiot...who'd be able to talk THAT down?" she said, pointing to BioMegidramon who was now trying to blast Beezlemon.

"Go after him," said Chloe to Mark, "You're only the one who knows what the inside of this place is like." Mark nodded and followed. Chloe looked over to see Beelzemon trying to stun BioMegidramon, but failing. His face clearly reflected the fear he had. But Chloe thought she saw something else besides that. Guilt? "We've got to help him," said Chloe, "Even if he's a pain in the butt, he's still a comrade." Gabumon and Veemon nodded and charged BioMegidramon again.

--

Matt had already gotten slightly lost after running into the depths of the facility. As he approached a junction, he could hear someone inside a doorway. He peered around to see a few guards in a holding brig. "I wonder if they're enjoying the show?" said one guard, pointing to a screen that was displaying the fight on the heliport. "Hmm...its not a neon sign...but it'll do." said Matt, turning into the doorway and firing on the guards. He ran in to see the other tamers and their partners in several holding cells. A quick blast to the cell controls released them.

"Ok, it's bailout time, everybody out." The Tamers quickly left their cells. Matt stopped Guilmon and said, "I really need your help with something."

--

Meanwhile, Devimon was having some trouble with his new minion. "Can't you do anything?" he demanded to the Mineral Digimon in his hand. Oremon blinked and called out "BALL BEARING!" Several metal balls shot out of his mouth and hit Devimon in the face. Devimon yelped in pain and dropped Oremon. When Oremon touched the ground, he glowed brightly before calling out, "Oremon digivolve to... Chipmon!" His shape changed to a slightly large Digimon that resembled a circuit board with arms, legs, a mouth, and an eye. The circuits were currently glowing a happy green.

Devimon glared at Kurata. "You idiot…this mistake is useless to me…" he said. A small explosion was heard and a side window opened on the comm screen to show Matt and the tamers heading towards the helipad. Another feed showed Dante and a few men getting ready to jump them. "Calm down," said Kurata, "It's just an In-Training right now. It won't be useful against anything until it digivolves further. Fortunately, I've added an algorithm that will allow it digivolve faster than most Digimon of its age as soon as it displays its attacks." Chipmon's eyebrow crackled as it called "MICROZAP!" A small jolt of electricity shot out and zapped Kurata in the leg. As Kurata hopped up and down on his other leg, Chipmon called out "Chipmon digivolve to... Robomon!" Now it resembled a small robot with a blue visor-like scanner for an eye. Devimon smirked. "Then send him once he's a capable fighter...till then, it seems you have an infestation of pests..." he said.

--

Matt and the tamers were almost back at the heliport when Dante sprung his little ambush, dropping a firedoor and blocking Matt from the others. "You really are a little pest, Lynch." said Dante, drawing what looked like a regular katana, until blue plasma covered the blade. "Maybe you just need cutting down to size." he said and lunged at Matt with is ion blade. "Whoa there," said Matt, "You better be careful with that. You could put an eye out with that." "I'm planning on doing more than that," said Dante as he swung again. Matt ducked and just avoided having his head parted from his shoulders.

--

Mark was walking down the hallways. "Drat, where could he have gone?" he muttered. Then he heard another voice, "What do you mean you don't want to be a weapon?!" Mark recognized it as Kurata's voice. Deciding this was worth investigating, he quickly switched to BioChameleonmon and became invisible. Robomon was backed away from Kurata and two guards with EMP blasters. Kurata looked furious. Robomon said timidly "Why should I fight people I've never met?"

"Because I created you and I'm commanding you too," snapped Kurata. "But my heart tells me it isn't right," said Robomon. "Your heart? You don't have a heart! You're just a machine!" Kurata sighed. "This is just how my days been going." he turned to the guards. "Delete this mistake but make sure its codes collected." he said. Just then a voice cried out "TONGUE LASHING!" The guards were knocked off their feet as they were hit by something long, invisible, and slimy. BioChameleonmon reappeared just long enough to grab Robomon and started running away. However he didn't count on Devimon digivolving to NeoDevimon. "GUILTY CLAW!" shouted the Fallen Angel Digimon as he slashed BioChameleonmon's flank.

NeoDevimon hit BioChameleonmon again, knocking him against the wall and forcing him back to human form. "One of yours, Doctor? You can't even keep your own men under control?" he said. He was about to slash Mark when the lighting went down to emergency lighting around the same time the ground shook.

--

Matt jumped another wild slash from Dante and leapt over a control panel that was quickly slashed apart by Dante. "Stay still you little cockroach." yelled Dante, missing yet again. The two mercs fight had finally migrated to the facilities Quantum reactor room. "Whoa, whoa, whoa," said Matt, "You can't fight with that in here. You hit one of these reactors and the place will go sky high." "Then I better not miss," said Dante as he attacked again. Matt ducked it and managed to land a punch on Dante's jaw, causing the merc to stumble for a second. "THATS IT!" screamed Dante' apparently losing it. He threw the blade at Matt, missing and pulled out his digivice, changing to BioDarkdramon. "Don't you think this is overkill?" whimpered Matt, neither noticing the blade had sunk up to the hilt in the reactors main stabilizer control console.

"The way I see it, it's underkill," said Dante, "CYBER LANCE!" Matt jumped out of the way of the oncoming lance. It missed him and ended up stuck in the floor. As Dante struggled to remove his lance, Matt heard the console crackle, "W-w-warning, re-re-reactor becoming-ing-ing unsta-a-able. Self-de-de-destruction in 6-6-6 minutes." Matt glared at BioDarkdramon. "This is why you can't have nice things." he said, before pulling the blade out and looking around for the scabbard, apparently confident that the hybrid was stuck. BioDarkdramon puled himself free silently and crept up before saying. "Don't you worry about that..." he said, lunging at Matt as he turned, sadly Matt was still holding the ion blade. BioDarkdramon stopped dead and turned back to human, while Matt looked in horror. "But...but you're just hu...man." Dante said and crumpled to the deck. Matt looked down for a second, terrified before running out the room.

--

Little did Matt know that Dante's brother had watched the whole thing from the security room. For the first few seconds, he was completely numb. But then the base's alarm started to go off and he forced his body to move. As he ran down the halls, he said to himself, "You will die for that, Lynch. I'm going to make certain you do."

--

Meanwhile, on the heliport, the freed tamers emerged into the sunlight to see BioMegidramon still attacking Chloe, Flamedramon, garurumon and Beezlemon relentlessly. Just then BioMegidramon's tail snaked out and wrapped around Beelzemon. His head lowered down to bite him in half, but Beelzemon caught his jaws with his hands. "Not again," he moaned as the acidic saliva started to drip on him. Guilmon ran forward. "Takatomon." he yelled, waving at BioMegidramon. Flamedramon tried to pull him away, saying "Are you crazy? He'll rip you apart."

"If I don't do something, he'll rip Beelzemon apart," said Guilmon. He yanked out of Flamedramon's clutches and ran to the two struggling Megas. "Takatomon stop! You don't have to do this! Beelzemon's sorry for what he did, you don't need to punish him!" BioMegidramon seemed to pause the n turned to fix his monevolent gaze on the small rookie. "Takato, it's me, Guilmon, your best friend. You helped me when I went wild, now I want to help you." Said Guilmon desperately. Chloe ran forward next. "For heavens sake...get out the..." she stopped at BioMegidramon snarled at her till she backed up.

Beelzemon was not in a very uncomfortable position. Not only was he trying to prevent his upper body from being bitten off, the dripping of the acidic spit was rather painful. And this time, there wouldn't be Makuramon to help him get out of this. "Takato, please," said Guilmon as he rested his claws on BioMegidramon's tail. A small teardrop came out of his eye and fell onto the Demon Dragon Digimon's skin. The red blaze in BioMegidramon's eyes started to dim and his whole body became light as he started to shrink.

Chloe ran over as another, slightly taller Guilmon appeared. "Now this is just weird...how thye hell did this guy do this?" she said, helping Takato up to his feet. Beelzemon wiped off the remnants of BioMegidramon's drool, his hands smoking slightly from the effort. "This is sorta like what happened to Rika and that Hawkmon," he commented. "Well, they did give us shots of some sort," said Henry, rubbing his forearms. Terriermon was about to ask more about it when a loud explosion rocked the base.

--

Inside the base, Mark was heading through the corridors with Robomon behind him. A shape in the smoke came into view. Matt was leaning agains the wall, staring at the wall. A glowing energy blade, Dante's was in his hands. "Where have you been?" asked Matt, "and who's the little fella in metal?" "This is Robomon, the project Kurata's been working on for Devimon. Speaking of which, we better get moving because Devimon's after us because Robomon won't work like he's supposed to..." Mark noticed the blade, "Isn't that Dante's?"

Matt looked at it and put it into its holster. "Yea...he doesn't need it anymore." Mark glared for a second then dropped the subject. An explosion sounded and the alarms increased. "What did you do?" yelled Mark. "It was dante." said Matt sulkily. Their mental stalemate ended when several security troopers ran round the corner and opened fire. "Through the medlab...go go go!" said Matt, running through a doorway into what turned out to be the hybrid lab.

Matt looked around and said, "So this is where Kurata whips up his nasty transformation formulas." "Yep," said Mark. "Hard believe anyone would want to go through with it," said Matt. "Well, I can explain about me." "Too bad you'll never have time to tell it," said a creepy voice. The three of them turned to see NeoDevimon looming over them. Matt pulled a blaster and opened fire on NeoDevimon before pulling out one of his anti-mega EM grenades. "I've been hoping for a rematch." he said, getting ready to throw it.

NeoDevimon glared down at Matt, barely paying attention to the blasts. "I'll deal with you next," he said, "STUN CLAW!" He swiped at Matt and knocked him into the wall. The electrical power that was in that attack left Matt stunned. A side hatch slid open, the lock knocked open by his impact and a sealed box fell open, marked with bio-hazard symbols. "The,...abort serums." said Matt before passing out from the stunning.

NeoDevimon turned to Mark and Robomon. "Kurata may have messed up regarding your emotions, but once I have you under a Dark Ring, you'll be no different then the rest that Kurata will make. But first, I'll deal with your friend to dissuade you from any rebellious ideas." He then reached down and picked Mark up by the neck. Matt shook himself too to spot NeoDevimon strangling Mark. "So tempting..." said Matt and was about to throw it when he spotted robomon, standing more then too close enough.

"Let him go NeoDevimon," said Robomon, "What point is there to killing him. He doesn't have data to absorb." NeoDevimon tilted his hand and said, "I suppose you're right. I guess I'll just force him into his hybrid form and load his data before I move on to that pain-in-the-neck mercenary." With that, NeoDevimon, zapped Mark with a dark energy that forced him into his hybrid form. "Don't worry...you'll soon have company..." sneered NeoDevimon, electrocuting Mark till his digimon form began to flicker like an out of tune TV signal. Suddenly a small orb landed and latched itself to NeoDevimon's wrist and started beeping. NeoDevimon sneered and crushed it before he heard a cry of 'SPROCKET LAUNCHER' and a hail of small gears hit him in the back, electrocuting him.

NeoDevimon turned and glared down at Robomon. "Why you imputent little-" NeoDevimon was cut off when the electric energy from the gears reactivated the grenade and it went off. NeoDevimon cried out in pain as the pulse rattled his digital makeup. Matt waved to Mark and Robomon. "Quick, while he's counting his limbs to make sure they're still there." He called, just as the computer sounded "Alert…Reactor overload now irreversible. All personnel evacuate via emergency portal…you now have 3 minutes to reach minimum safe distance."

BioChameleonmon groaned as he tried to get up. "I'm not sure if I can go very far," he said. Robomon put his hands on BioChameleonmon's side and said, "I think I could provide the sollution. It's the Digimon data that is hampering you. One moment please." BioChameleonmon's form shivered as Robomon started drawing in data. Eventually, Mark's human appeared as the last of the data disappeared into Robomon's hands. Matt tossed Mark a spare blaster. "Don't make me regret giving you one." he said as a roar sounded. "And now thats our call...running time." he said, as they turned the corner to see the blast door.

"We'll never make it through," said Mark as he tried to get back onto his feet. Matt looked at the blade, and saw where, earlier it had cut a slash in it. "Lets see..." he said and made an experimental couple of slashes. "Guess it didn't work..." said Matt and turned to follow Mark when a creak made them all look as the door fell into four neat pieces. Matt looked at the blade, and saw where, earlier it had cut a slash in it. "Lets see..." he said and made an experimental couple of slashes. "Guess it didn't work..." said Matt and turned to follow Mark when a creak made them all look as the door fell into four neat pieces. "LEG IT!" screamed Matt, picking up Robomon and fleeing.

Matt and Mark ran as fast as they possibly could, and that's pretty fast considering they were trying to outrun a demonic creature in a soon-to-be exploding research lab. They quickly ran to the launch pad. "Ladies, gentlemen, and whatever the rest of you are, please get into a copter that is operational for rapid departure. In other words, LET'S GET OUT OF HERE!"

As if hearing them, the air above the station began to ripple as several pods and larger vessels flew out the surrounding sea towards it. "Just like rats....go go go!" said Chloe as they piled into the chopper. As the chopper lifted off, Matt pulled out the abort serums. "A nice little souvenir, don't you think?" he said, before starting to openi it. "Hands up who needs a shot." said Chloe.

The Tamers' hands, or claws in Takato's case, raised up. As Chloe prepared the needles, she noticed Mark and Robomon getting on. "What's he doing here and what's that?" "No time for questions," said Matt as he got into the pilot's seat. "Oh no," said Beelzemon, "if he's driving, I'll fly outside, thank you very much." Matt looked over. "Suit your..." he began as a blue/white flash came from behind before a blast of air like a giants fist, followed by a deafening roar, hit the chopper, flicking it up into the sky. As the choppers view span, Matt got a glimpse of an expanding dome of crackling energy where Lab One had been seconds before, when the chopper, carried by the blast, went into the portal.

There was the horrible sensation of being in two places at once, which went with any unshielded wormhole travel, before the chopper was at the back of the rest of the evacuation vehicles. A siren on the dashboard showed that the tail rotor had been sheered off. The ground came up to meet the chopper, crumpling the cockpit and causing it to violently skid along, off a small cliff before coming to rest against a pile of boulders.

--

"You useless, half-witted idiots!" yelled Kurata. Don and Dallas were not looking like they were having a fun time, which is understandable when there careers and/or lives seem like they're about to be ended. "You probably knew he was getting ideas...now I'm stuck with a idiot elephant and an overgrown mosquito." he said as the door behind Don and Dallas opened. "Luckily I was a little more established here...Meet Commander Kar-Tai of the Imperial Splitter Second fleet...my sponsors." he said. A dragon-like alien in full battle gear was stood behind them. "The Emperors forces are at your service, Doctor." said the Splitter with a sneer.

"What does he have that we don't?" demanded Don. "A brain for starters," said Kurata, "and access to some of the most devastating weapons of war to ever be built. Speaking of which, I've got some other machines that need attending." He left the room, leaving the two mercs with the scary-looking splitter. After a few seconds of awkward silence, Dallas said, "So, you've heard any good jokes lately?"

Kar-Tai's response started to be heard as Kurata went into a side room and closed the door. It sounded painful. When Kurata entered the other room, Devimon was waiting for him. "You better be able to come up with a good reason why I should destroy right now," said the Fallen Angel Digimon. "Because I have Robomon's sequence on my hard drive and I'll edit all personality and self-consciousness out." Devimon looked mullified. "Good," he said, "It's hard to manage an army when their emotions get in the way."

"Such a true thing," said an echoing voice. Kurata spun around and demanded, "Who said that?" "You need not worry, we intend to do no harm... yet," said another voice. Devimon looked slightly unnerved. "I think I recognize those voices," he said. "Well of course you do, we come from the same dimension," said the second voice. "You can hardly call yourself a member of the Dark Area family if you didn't know us," said the first voice. Suddenly a shadowy portal openen in the middle of the floor. From it, arose two Digimon Kurata had never seen before.

One of them looked an old man with a staff whose head resembled a skull with a red orb in its mouth. He wore a black cloak that somewhat resembled a poncho with several gold-encrusted rubies hanging on it. He wore green pants, red pointed shoes, and a golden mask that did nothing to the size of his large nose. His white beard hung down to his ankles, just like his hair. But several aspects of him showed his demonic nature; most prominent were the claws on his fingers, the red eyes behind the mask, and the six demon wings extending from his back.

The second one was also demonic-looking. He wore a red cloak that covered most of his body. The front was black with green markings starting from the pendelum hanging around his neck and ending in an upside-down star. His feet were wearing black pointed shoes and his hands were a pale purple with red fingers. A large pair of black bat wings with purple membranes and red claws sprouted from his back. The only thing that showed of his head under the red pointed hood with the yellow upside-down star with an eye in the middle on the forehead was his two purple eyes and the devil's horns.

"Allow us to introduce ourselves," said the first Digimon, "I am Barbamon, the Demon Lord of Greed." "And I am Daemon, the Demon Lord of Wrath," said the second Digimon. Kurata raised an eyebrow. "Demon Lords, like Beelzemon and Belphemon?" Barbamon sneered and said, "Do not speak of Beelzemon, he is a disgrace to our reputation." "But we are true Demon Lords and we've came to offer our assistance to your cause," said Daemon.

"Why should we trust you?" demanded Devimon. Daemon turned to him and said, "I believe your best interest in joining with me is that we were both banished from our worlds by the same accursed Digidestined." Devimon looked interested, "Really? How did they manage to banish you? I thought you could make digital gates wherever you wanted." "Of course I can, how did you think we got here?" said Daemon, "But they forced me through a gate to the Dark Ocean and before I could open another gate, I lost my way. Same as you and Kurata."

"You can trust me," said Barbamon to Kurata, "I, like you, have made allies with this so-called 'Splitter Empire'. And, undoubtably like you, I have made plans to betray them eventually. I can provide the finances for your experimentations while Daemon can provide soldiers for you." "What do you want in return?" asked Kurata. "You can repay Barbamon with the riches you claim in the Digital World," said Daemon, "As for me, I would prefer to return to the digital world I was banished from and to get revenge on the brats that bested me."

Kurata smiled, "It seems that we are of common interests. I can hardly see any harm in joining our causes." "You have made a wise decision," said Barbamon, "Shall we start by providing the technology you need for making those modified Robomon?" "Yes, as soon as they're at least Champion level, we'll be able to establish some territory," said Kurata. Daemon nodded and waved a hand, making a digi-portal materialize. "I hope that this works for your sake. We're nowhere near as patient as Devimon."

**Well…Kurata's fled to the Digital world and the tamers are in pursuit (if you call crashing 'pursuit')****. Sadly my co-author, Cydra630 has been grounded for a bit so until further notice, when he returns, Digital Conspiracy is on Hiatus. Hopefully only for a few weeks till he is ungrounded. Please read and Review.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Digimon, Dr Kurata and digimon tamers is property of Bandai.**

**Nullspace, Matt and Exo-Gene inc are my property. Mark is the property of my co-author, Cydra. **

**C.P.S Chronicles: Digital Conspiracy**

**Chapter 12: Hazardous Battle**

Ryo and Cyberdramon were walking through the desert plain of the Digital World. "Grr, no one to battle," growled Cyberdramon. "Easy there," said Ryo, "don't make me turn you back to Monodramon again." Suddenly the air seemed to open up and hundreds of choppers and hover-gunships flew into the sky. Cyberdramon looked up in shock. "Grah, it's those kidnappers," he said angrily. The vehicles continued to come, ending with a final copter, spouting black smoke from its engine and spinning groundwards. "What's up with that one?" asked Ryo. His curiosity soon turned to fear as the copter headed towards them. Cyberdramon picked up Ryo and flew out of the way. Just as well, as the copter left a deep trench where it skidded and came to a stop just at the edge of the cliff. The chopper hung there for a moment before falling down into the small canyon. When Ryo and Cyberdramon arrived at the crash, the side doors had been peeled away and several tracks were leading away. Six figures could be seen in the smoke though, three of which were human. "Ow, my head," groaned a voice Ryo recognized as Matt's. "Beelzemon was right, we shouldn't have let you drive," said a female voice he didn't know. "Well fine, how good are you at escaping a wormhole without a tail blade?"

Veemon and Gabumon staggered out of the crash, dragging an unconcious mark between them. Matt kicked the cockpit door open and climbed out, followed by Chloe who was holding the serum box they'd 'liberated' from Lab one. "Where the heck are we?" said Matt, looking around, his gaze falling on yo and Cyberdramon. "Hey there, ryo...RYO?" "Uh, I'm guessing you didn't come to the Digital World the usual way," said Ryo. "Digital World?" said Matt as he looked around, "So this is like a video game?" "Not really, it's..." Before Ryo could explain, Matt tried to use his non-existent super jumping ability, much to the amusement of the others.

Matt glared. "It could happen." he said, giggling slightly, apparently at nothing. Chloe was looking round. "Ok...so where are the rest of the tamers?" she said, concerned. "I thought they were in there with us," said Matt, "but then again, Beelzemon's not here either. I think Robomon might still be in there." Gabumon said. "How long does it take for those injections to work?" Chloe, Mark and Ryo all looked at Matt. "About a few...hours...oh crap," he said, annoyed. Mark was looking through the wreakage for Robomon and finally pulled the Android Digimon out. Robomon seemed fine, but then he started singing, "Camptown races sing this song, do-da, do-da, race track's about five miles long, all the do-da day!" Matt and Chloe stared till Robomon came to his senses. "That was just...weird," he said before turning to Ryo. "Guess you're wondering what we're walking about."

After a long discussion regarding Exo-Genes, Kurata, Devimon, and several other things, Matt finally got to the part where they were flung into the Digital World. Ryo was speechless, oddly enough, so was Cyberdramon. The tension was broke when Robomon started singing 'On Top of Mount Smoky" at the top of his lungs and horrendously off-key. Mark, without looking, put Matt's currently empty backpack over Robomon's head. "So, Ryo, can you tell us what Kurata's doing around here?" "I have no idea, never heard of him before, but Devimon I have, really nasty guy. Think they have anything to do with those weird weapons and troopers back there?" "Troopers? Probably NSC stuff..." said Chloe. Matt looked at the meager pile of gear from the chopper. "We can find the others easily with the D-Ark's tracker, but we need food or we're toast," said Matt before looking at Mark, "Is there a town or something around here?" "Not for a while off, this plain of the Digital World's mostly uninhabited, but I know where there's a herd of Jagamon and a MudFrigimon village," said Ryo. Matt shrugged. "Good enough...which way?" he said.

--

The town was next to a large inlet. "It's nice looking...reminds me of England back home," said Matt. When they arrived in the town, the greeting was not as expected. The smaller Digimon scattered like Matt was juggling EMP grenades and the larger Digimon glared at the group, harder and their partners, one muttering something about traitors. "What just happened? We only just got here." said Matt. One of the elder MudFrigimon approached them and said, "Will you please leave our town in peace. We have not had this much destruction since that dreadful motorbike attacked us." Matt stared. "Hold on there, Mr. Frosty. We've been here a total of 12 hours," he said. Veemon said, "Er...don't make him too mad." "Speaking of motorbikes, has anyone seen a Digimon named Beelzemon?" asked Ryo. The native Digimon looked puzzled. "You know, three eyes, metal tail, Demon Lord Type." At the mention of 'Demon Lord', several of them screamed and ran back into the buildings, locking the doors behind them.

At the same time, some shooting was heard further up the street and a group of amoured figures walked round the corner, with a strangely streamlined tank. The first few aimed at a few Digimon, causing them to back up. "We've come for more volunteers," said the leader. Two other troopers advanced on a Koromon. "We can't just stand here," said Matt. "Uh, aren't you forgetting the big tank?" asked Ryo. Matt wasn't listening, walking up towards the troopers. The trooper tried to grab the Koromon. "Come here you little cream puff," he said angrily and was shocked as Matt twirled him round and punched him in the face. Veemon and Gabumon quickly digivolved to their Champion forms. Mark tried to activate his Digivice, but he got nothing. "What's wrong with this thing?" he muttered.

The trooper held up a small device before kicking Matt down. "We know all about y..." he said before a fireball from Flamedramon incinerated him. One of the other troopers helmet had fallen off, revealing a reptilian muzzle, a splitter. "You'll all pay...all of you," he said before stepping aside to allow the tank to aim.

The tank fired a few energy blasts at the group but made the fatal mistake of choosing Cyberdramon first. Cyberdramon dodged the blast and growled savagely. "DESOLATION CLAW!" he cried as fired energy from his hands. Normally, this wouldn't do anything to a tank like that. But since it was in the Digital World and was made out of data, the blast ate a sizeable chunk of it. The pilots in the tank stared in horror before one said, "You forgot the reality field gene..." and was cut off as Cyberdramon finished off the tank. Matt sighed. "They're not so hard," he said with a smirk before seeing the horrified look Mark was wearing. "Er, what's the matter?" asked Matt. "Yeah, aren't we fighting your enemies?" said Chloe.

"They are, but if you had not attacked them, they would have left town peacefully," said the elder MudFrigimon, "Now they'll attack for revenge." Several angry Digimon yelled angrily after that. Matt glared. "What? It's not like they have a navy or something," said Matt and spotted Veemon looking at something. "Erm, Matt?" he said. Matt wandered over and looked. "Oh crud," he said, spotting several unusual but obviously armed navy vessels sitting in the bay

A speaker visible under the lead ships gun turret began speaking, "Inhabitants of Forgotten Village of Discarded Data. You have several hostile combatants in your area. Surrender them or face the consequences. That is all." The transmission cut off. Mark said glumly, "They'll wreck the place anyway. It's their way." Chloe looked over, making a note to ask how Mark knew so much about these new troopers. "I'm not that worried," said Matt, "they're data here and data can be erased." "Hello? We're data too, you know," said Ryo, "We can't just go out and blast them all in one strike." Matt shrugged. "Have you got a better idea?" Chloe turned to the others. "Ok, you have to get out of the village before those guys get their act together," she said and glared as MudFrigimon said. "Why should we listen to you? You're the one they're after."

"Because they defend Digimon," said a voice. A small Digimon stepped forward. "Hawkmon! What are you doing here?" said Matt. "This is my home," said Hawkmon, "This human and his partner helped freed me after I've been capture and turned into a Bio-Hybrid serum." Several Digimon hissed at the mention of that. "I don't know who the others are, but if they're with him, they must be good." Matt grinned. "Hawkmon? My sister Chloe. Chloe? Hawkmon, the luckiest bird I've ever met," he said. Chloe glared. "This is not the time." "Listen, you guys have to leave," said Mark "You have no idea what these guys could do to you. They could wipe you out or use you to power some superweapon of theirs or worse."

Matt was looking out at the bay, where clusters of smaller objects had detached from the mothership vessels. "Hey, Mark, convince faster," he yelled, looking though his modify cards for his evolve cards. "If you guys don't want to end up like the ones before you, get into hiding now," said Mark. The Digimon took this hint and quickly scattered. "Maybe we should do the same thing," said Chloe, "I don't like the look of those things." Several of the objects were accelerating. "They're gonna crash...what the?" he said as the vehilces sprouted tracks and turrets and rumbled ashore. "They're called Tsunami's," yelled Mark over the noise as what looked like transports landed and opened up, letting troops out. "Over here," said Chloe, pointing to alleys covering the town square. The group quickly ran into the alley as the Tsunamis marched by. "Nobody make a sound," warned Mark. There were a few moments of silence and then Robomon cried "Oh bury me not on the lone prairie!" "Don't tempt me," growled Matt.

One of the tanks turned. "Oh hell no." said Matt, as the tank opened fire, blasting one of the buildings on the side of marks alley into fragments. "LET EM HAVE IT!" yelled Matt as Veemon, in Paildramon form and Garurumon came out of hiding, Chloe and Matt joining in with assault weapon fire from the looted splitter rifles. "Come on Robomon, "said Mark, "We have to fight now. Now's no time for a square dance." Indeed, Robomon was singing like a square dance caller. Curiously, it matched what Matt was doing at the moment. "Grab a fencepost, hold it tight. Whack your foe with all your might. Hit 'im in the shin, hit 'im in the head, hit him again, the critter ain't dead. Wop him low an' wop him high, stick yer finger in his eye, kick his butt as he turns around, bang his head against the ground." Matt was 'break dancing' to avoid the automatic fire from the troopers that had flanked his alley. Paildramon turned and fired his Desperado Blaster attack, scattering the troops.

Meanwhile, two Guilmon were walking through the desert. "When will this stuff wear off?" asked one of them, who was taller and a pair of goggles on his head. "I don't know," said the other, "but I sure could use something to eat right now." Suddenly the first Guilmon lifted his head, his pupils dilating. "Takatomon?" asked the other. Suddenly the first one was surrounded in red energy and a green-headed Megidramon replaced it. "Takatomon! Wait!" cried Guilmon as BioMegidramon flew into the sky, which was becoming thick with thunderclouds.

Back at the town, things were not looking good. "Mark, either get Robomon to help or get him out of here," said Matt as he struggled with a splitter who was trying to stab him. Chloe also had her own trouble. A tank had her pinned behind a building that was flickering under the impacts from it. And to top it off, the naval vessels had started shooting at the town too.

--

On the ship, Commander, Kar-Tai watched the attack. "Keep firing and move another wave of Tsunami's in," he said to the second-in-command. The scanner officer tapped the screen. "Sir, we have a dimensional flux closing," he said. Kar-Tai shrugged. "Order all units to activate reality fields, will also make them harder to destroy safely. Nothing like an exploding power cell to ruin your day," he said with a grin. "We have the dimensional flux on radar sir," said the scanner officer. Oddly enough, instead of a dot like almost anything else, it had a different symbol, like a hazard sign. Suddenly other scanners started flashing the same symbol. "Sir, that flux is emitting some sort of chaotic energy. It's causing a massive overload of data. It could crash the system." Kar-Tai walked to the main viewport as the signal came in visual range. "Fire at it...NOW!" he yelled into the comm, before slipping away towards the teleporter room. Energy shells shot into the approaching figure, making it vanish from all the smoke.

--

Matt realized the naval ships weren't shooting at the town anymore, though it didn't matter. Paildramon and Garurumon were back to back, fighting increasing number of troops and Matt and Chloe were no better off. "Ok, drop your weapon, NSC scum," said a trooper. He was aiming at Mark. "Or your friend gets kinetic energy poisoning," he finished. Robomon came to his senses for a moment and called out "SPROCKET LAUNCHER!" The trooper wasn't expecting it to attack and got electrified by the flying gears. "That wasn't so hard," said Mark. His grim promptly vanished when he saw the hovering supertank coming towrads them. "Now that, that is hard." The other troopers fell in behind the new vehicle as it opened fire, knocking Paildramon down and eradicating a row of buildings in a chain of explosions.

Another hail of shells narrowly missed Matt and Chloe but threw them to the floor. The tank stopped and a larger gun on its top rotated to aim at the two mercs, a glowing blue orb readying. Mark knew what it was. "No...it's a reality cannon..." The cannon swiveled until it focused on Chloe. "Get out of there!" yelled Mark, "If that thing hits you, you'll be removed from existence!" Chloe was shellshocked and couldn't move her legs. "Chloe, no!" yelled Garurumon as light covered her body. "Garurumon digivolve to... SkullBaluchimon!" The light cleared to reveal a skeletal creature with blue bones, red eyes, and wings. The Undead Digimon rammed into the side of the tank, knocking it aside. The tank's side turret folded over to face SkullBaluchimon and fired a volley, obscuring a view of the Digimon. "NO!" yelled Chloe. When the cloud of smoke cleared, it showed SkullBaluchimon completely unharmed. The anti-infantry shrapnel was designed to affect organs and had no affect on things made of bones. SkullBaluchimon glared at the tank and yelled, "GRAVE BONE!" She stomped on the tank, shattering the front part of it. Matt watched impressed as the tank exploded with enough force to force SkullBaluchimon back to rookie form. Matt whooped from the success which faded when the surviving troops aimed. "Great," said Matt, only for a cry of 'MACH IMPULSE' to be heard and several attacks to hit. Matt turned to see Hawkmon in her armor form followed by most of the town attacking "Looks like the calvary's here," said Matt.

Suddenly the ground shook beneath them. "What was that? An earthquake?" asked Chloe. Suddenly several pillars of red light came out of the ground in various areas. Paildramon stared up, in fact all of the Digimon were, with a look of fear, except perhaps Halsemon. "Erm...get the feeling we haven't got the full script here?" said Matt, trying to see what they were looking at. Suddenly with a whistling, several energy rounds launched from the ship rammed into a point in the air. "Ryo, this happened before," growled Cyberdramon, "Yeah, I remember, it was when the others first went to the Sovereigns' plane," said Ryo. The blasts appeared not to have upset their target as several blasts were returned, accompanied by a few explosions. "What happened last time?" yelled Matt over the noise. "Well, from what they've told me, there was a really big fight, and Takato got really mad and Guilmon..." A rather vivid image appeared in Matt's head. "This is Megidramon's influence, isn't it?" he said.

Matt looked at Halsemon. "Wait, if that's Takato up there, then where's..." Chloe looked over and pointed. "It's Guilmon," she said as the red Dinosaur Digimon ran round a corner, looking up at the speck in the sky Guilmon was busy watching the sky so he didn't notice where he was going. So it was no surprise when he ran right into Mark. Guilmon moaned and got back up. "Guilmon, where is Takato?" asked Matt. "He flew up there and hasn't come back down," said Guilmon, pointing upwards. "Well don't look now, but I think he's coming in for a landing," said Ryo. Several of the Digimon scattered as BioMegidramon landed, snarling in the square. The remains of the splitter troops opened fire to absolutely no effect. "YOU IDIOTS! STOP SHOOTING!" yelled Matt, and had to duck a pot shot at himself.

BioMegidramon roared, causing fissures with lava bubbling at the bottom to form. "If we don't stop him, this whole place is gonna fall apart!" yelled Ryo. Suddenly something caught Matt's ear, it was the sound of a motorcycle driving at high speed. Suddenly Beelzemon appeared, riding on Behemoth. He rode up a ramp the fissures created and launched into the air. "YEE-HAW!" he yelled as the motorcycle bounced off BioMegidramon's head before landing perfectly near the group. "Beelzemon, he's mental," said Matt. "Chloe, you got the cures?" he said. Chloe nodded and slid the box over. A few cut-off screams sounded as BioMegidramon took a small interest in the splitters. He clicked the box open to reveal a dart gun and several syringes. "Get the feeling they were prepared for this?" said Mark. Matt clicked a dart in. "We'll find out, won't we?"

"We'll need to distract him long enough so we can but the dart in," said Matt. "I think I can take care of that," said Halsemon as she took off. "Keep goggle boy over there busy? No problem," said Beelzemon as he rode off again. SkullBaluchimon and Paildramon also went for him. "Takato, it's us," said Paildramon, grabbing him from the side and trying to hold him still. BioMegidramon roared and swiped them away. Then he felt some blasts from above. He looked up to see Halsemon flying above him. He was about to fly up to get her when he felt something grab his tail. He turned to see Beelzemon. "You're not going anywhere," he said.

Matt was trying to get a good shot in. "C'mon...c'mon," he said and heard a whistling. Obviously not all the ships were gone. A strange flyer burst out the water and fired a hail of gunfire at the group till a blast from BioMegidramon knocked it out the air into the ground where it sat. Matt jumped aside as the gunfire bounced past him, dropping the gun. He looked up to see BioMegidramon glaring at him. "Oh smeg," he said. There was a 'fzip' noise and BioMegidramon looked puzzled, A now-empty dart had hit him in the arm and Chloe was standing behind him, dart gun in hand. "Can't you do anything without me, Matt?" she said smiling. BioMegidramon's image shimmered a bit and shrank a lot. In a few seconds, Beelzemon was left holding Takato in his arms. "Uh, what just happened?" asked Takato. "You just went bonkers for a little bit, nothing much," said Beelzemon casually. Matt nodded. "You did save our butts. Those ships could have laminated the entire town if you hadn't stepped in," he said. Chloe added, "Did you see the others?"

"So, how can you possibly explain how this attack backfired?" said Kurata coolly. "We would have succeeded if that Digimon didn't cause such a disturbance in the digital structure," said Kar-Tai. "Yes, fortunately, I highly doubt a Megidramon will show up again, so this incident should only happen once, understand?" Kar-Tai was not convinced. "My men mean a lot more to me then your pathetic experiments. If the emperor had not ordered it..." he said. "Yes, yes," yawned Kurata, "How about you send some people out to take care of those tamers? If they're allowed to roam around, they'll just cause more problems." "The other ones aren't registering on human scans anymore." said Kar-Tai. "Then we won't be using human agents to sniff them out," said Kurata, "or splitters. I have plenty of Digimon that are capable of tracking them. They shouldn't be too hard to take care of." Kar-Tai growled. "No, my men will find them, not your inferior...pets," he said, spitting the last word.

--

The gang were sitting in one of the town buildings. "If they transformed too, we'll find them better in two teams," said Matt. "No problem," said Hawkmon, "My brief bond to Rika allows to me to tell me where she is. With my bird's eye view, finding her will be no problem." The gang all turned as Robomon started a rendition of 'Jingle bells'. "We really got to get him looked at," said Matt after a minute. Chloe added, "Good singing voice though." "Where are we going to find someone to fix him?" asked Mark, "The only one who'd know would be Kurata. We might as well ask him to fix my Digivice." He said the last one sarcastically, holding out the non-responding device. "You don't need to see that quack," said Impmon, "If you want Tin Boy to work properly, you gotta go to Vulcanmon."

Matt and Chloe looked at Ryo, who they considered their digital world expert. "Uh, I'm not quite sure on this one. Cyberdramon, you think you can fill us in?" Cyberdramon nodded and said, "Vulcanmon's one of the Olympus Twelve and the patron of the Metal Empire Digimon. He forged all of the weapons we Digimon carried." "No fooling?" said Matt. "Yeah, how'd you think I got my bike and cannon back after they were minced?" said Impmon.

Matt shrugged. "E-bay?"he said. Chloe slapped him across the back of his head and then said, "We could split up. You guys could go see this Vulcanmon guy, me and Hawkmon can go after Rika." "Ok then," said Mark as he picked Impmon up by his bandana, "and you are leading us to him." Then Robomon started singing again, "Oh give me a home where the buffalo roam and the deer and the antelope- and the deer and the antelope- and the deer and the antelope- and the deer and the antelope-" Mark hit him across the head and Robomon carried on. Matt shrugged. "Just be careful...ok?" he said. "Don't worry, what could happen?" said Chloe.

**The Sovereign's Plane, Southern Section**

In a red hall illuminated by a large fire, a large bird-like Digimon was sitting in front of a large pair of doors. His four red eyes flashed once and the doors opened in front of him. Two Renamon, one struggling with the Digimon holding her were led in. Chatsuramon threw the struggling one down. "We found them wandering near that Demon Lady's lair," he said.

"Good, if they had entered, they would have been corrupted in no time," said Zhuqiaomon, "You were very fortunate that I found you in time." "What do you want with us?" demanded the Renamon that was really Rika. "Is that any way to talk to an old comrade?" said Zhuqiaomon, "Nevertheless, there is purpose for me bringing you here. There is a group of Digimon that allied with the humans who abuse our kind, the Seven Demon Lords." "Demon Lords? Isn't that Beelzemon's type?" asked the true Renamon. Chatsuramon growled at the name, "Yes, and that's why we need you two to find him and destroy him." Rika glared, "No. Impmon's our ally. We won't do your dirty work."

"You know he's succumbed to darkness before, his hunger for power. He is the Demon Lord of Gluttony, how do you think he was able to load the Devas' data when you weren't able to?" demanded Zhuqiaomon. Renamon spoke this time. "He has been able to transform to Beezlemon for months. He never succumbed once in that time." "Not by himself," said Zhuqiaomon, "but the others are quite adapt of corrupting Digimon to serve them, Barbamon in particular." "No way," said Rika, "I don't care what he used to be like, he's not that way anymore. He's payed for it and I see no reason for him to be destroyed!" "Only a Biomerged can defeat a Demon Lord like him, as Gallantmon showed before. Therefore, you will be the one to eliminate him." Zhuqiaomon's eyes flashed and Rika was covered in red light. "Rika!" cried Renamon.

**So the gang have arrived and Takato is finally cured. However Henry is still out there and Rika seems to be in some trouble…More next time.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Digimon, Dr Kurata and digimon tamers is property of Bandai.**

**Nullspace, Matt and Exo-Gene inc are my property. Mark is the property of my co-author, Cydra. **

**Vulcanmon and Robomon (and his higher forms) are property of Cydra, my co-author.  
**

**C.P.S Chronicles: Digital Conspiracy**

**Chapter 13: ****The Digital Steelsmith**

Matt was sitting in front of the downed aircraft left over from the attack on the town. He'd been trying to break into the cockpit for the past 12 hours. Mark walked up. "I can get into this...it'll make the trip to Vulcanmons so much more peaceful." he said. "Let me try," said Mark, "I've always been good with machines." Robomon tapped on it a few times and suddenly the door flew wide open. "How'd you do that?" asked Matt. Robomon shrugged his shoulders before his head started spinning around.

Matt sighed. "The sooner we see Vulcanmon, the sooner he actually is not nuts." said Matt, peering into the cockpit. The controls looked simple enough. He pushed a button and a hillock a few feet away exploded. "ooook." he said petting the controls. Impmon digivolved to Beelzemon Blast Mode and said, "Just follow me and try not to blow everything up on the way." "Before you go," said the elder MudFrigimon, "We want to thank for your help. And we were wrong to jump to conclusions. I suppose not all humans or Demon Lords are bad. Anyone who can tame that mad motorcycle has a good place in my book."

Matt looked over as Veemon, who was looking at the bike in question had his feet ran over. The bike revving in what was almost a snigger. "I think 'tamed' is wishful thinking." he said with a laugh.

--

The jet flew neatly over Beezlemon Blast Mode with ease. "This thing handles like a damn dream." said Matt over the intercom. Robomon, sitting next to Veemon looked at the controls. "Whats this do?" he said, pushing a button. "Submersible mode online." said the computer and the jet divebombed into the river running next to Beezlemon, followed by Mark, veemons and Matt's screams and Robomon's laugh.

Beezlemon Blast Mode sniggered to himself and was drenched as the jet resurfaced. "Control your digimon partner." said Matt, pulling a tiny fish out his ear. "Guess the jets not watertight anymore." he said. "If you guys are finished with your swimming lesson, we gotta get rolling," called Beelzemon. Things went a bit smoothly, though Robomon won't stop singing 'Rawhide'.

Matt sighed. "very funny, bike boy." he said before the comm began to stutter with chatter. "Somethings up ahead." he said, spotting flashes coming from ahead along with distant thumps. "Hmm, sounds like we're not the only ones looking for Vulcanmon," said Matt. A rather pretty fireball lit up in the sky soon afterwards, "But it appears they're doing it the hard way." "Don't worry, I know a shortcut," said Beelzemon, "and the guy who's guarding it."

Matt and Mark looked at the feed coming from the sensors. It showed a full scale battle between more of the splitters and several hundred machine digimon. The splitters were being pummeled. "I like the idea." said Matt shortly after his mind worked out the life expectancy for them while flying a splitter ship.

Beelzemon lead them to a large mesa with a fissure-like opening on one side. Matt landed the ship and said, "This place looks relatively easy to approach," he said, "why aren't those guys going this way?" Suddenly a streak of energy lanced out in front of his feet. "That's why," said Chloe, pointing at a Digimon that looked like a dragon wearing knight's armor. Matt, who had long ago sold his common sense (and on some nights according to chloe, his sense of survival as well) glared at the huge digimon. "Hey, watch it buster." he yelled before his common sense told him what he'd just done and ran off to hide behind his subconcious.

Ryo checked his Digivice, "That's Slayerdramon, a Mega level Dragon Man Digimon. His elastic sword Fragarach allows him to perform several slaying techniques while his Chrome Digizoid armor protects him from harm."

"Don't worry, Slayerdramon," said Beelzemon, "these guys are with me." "Beelzemon, you desert rogue, where have you been?" said Slayerdramon in a much friendlier tone. "Well, I've got Tamers to look after. Mostly this lot. How's things around here?" "Well, we've been having some problems with invaders, but the defenses are holding up. How's the equipment working?" Matt and Mark stared at them for a minute. "Please get on with it." said Matt, in a bored voice after 20 minutes. Veemon had already fallen asleep. "Right," said Beelzemon, "we need to see Vulcanmon." "Why's that?" said Slayerdramon, "you said your weapons are working fine." "Yeah, but I've got a friend he needs to patch up." Beelzemon pointed at Robomon, who was currently asking the 'buffalo gals' to come out tonight.

Matt nodded before nudging Veemon awake. "Uh...are we there yet?" yawned Veemon before seeing Slayerdramon and shooting behind Matt. "Hmm... I agree, this little Digimon does need to see Vulcanmon," said Slayerdramon, "Follow me." "You think he could look at my Digivice too?" asked Mark. Slayerdramon gave him a look that quickly made him be quiet. "Follow me," he repeated. Matt and Veemon exchanged glances, concidering staying with the ship. An explosion shook the floor and made up their minds. They shot after Mark, Slayerdramon and Beezlemon as fast as they could.

The group went through a hidden door and went down a series of stairs into the deep underground. "I warn you," said Slayerdramon, "Vulcanmon can be rather impatient and does not like dawdling. Keep your business with to the point and try not to criticize his work. He's a bit touchy in that regard." Matt looked at Mark. "Out of interest...wat happened to the last guy to dawdle?" he said. They just passed by an unusual rock formation, almost as if something had been turned partway to stone and left to harden in the sun. "That's him over there," said Slayerdramon pointing. The group tensed and Slayerdramon said, 'Relax, I'm just joking, that's the Golemon that he got angry for botching his steel."

Matt, Mark and Veemon seemed to group closer together by unspoken agreement. "You heard him...to the point." said Matt, trying to stop his voice shaking. Then they heard some voices down the stairs. "I don't have time for ye," said a deep Scottish voice, "So get yer fancy armored backside out of my workshop." "But I need a weapon, the fate of the Digital World could depend on it," responded a female voice. Matt looked at Mark then at his digivice. "Bingo...our lucky day. Guess Chloe went for nothing." he said before walking ahead of Slayerdramon and saying "Hey, rika, It's...WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?"

The Digimon Matt was talking to looked like Sakuyamon, only she wore purple armor and only Rika's voice came out of her mouth. She was talking to a giant who wore a blacksmith's apron and gloves, had a headdress similiar to a giant mole with goggles, and a mechanical left leg. Matt stared. "I'll take a wild stab at your name. BioSakuyamon?" he said as the others came in. "You are correct," said 'Rika', "I am currently engaged on a sacred quest, the elimination of the Seven Great Demon Lords."

Matt and Veemon exchanged glances and Matt decided to try something he was quite bad at, Lieing. "Have you had your erm..." he said. Veemon whispered "Digi-flu." and Matt carried on barely missing a beat. "...digiflu jab? Very important." he said, waving behind his back at Mark to agree. "Er, right," said Mark, "Can be rather harmful for Bio-Hybrids." "I care not for your concerns," said BioSakuyamon, "Now tell me, where can I find Beelzemon?" Matt shrugged. "Erm...why? Plus you really should have that jab...very fatal...RIGHT GUYS?" he said, even nodding at the confused Vulcanmon and Slayerdramon while mouthing 'I'll explain later.'

"Hey, what's with the hold-up?" asked Beelzemon as he walked in. He looked at BioSakuyamon and said, "Foxface? Is that you?" "Beelzemon," said BioSakuyamon, "by order of the Sovereign Zhuquiomon, I shall exterminate thee, Demon Lord of Gluttony." "Eh? Gluttony? What are you talking about?" "Dude, have you seen the way you eat?" said Matt.

Matt tried to get through. "Ri...BioSakuyamon...I personally vouch for this guy. He's hno0t dangerous...though maybe his bike is...but he saved my butt more then once." he said. Veemon nodded. "Yeah. He helped us defeat Chaosdramon in Tokyo. We'd have all been in trouble if he hadn't helped out." he said.

"He has proven himself before," said BioSakuyamon, "but that does not mean he could not be turned to evil. And to prevent him from doing so, I must destroy him now." "Now hang on there, lass," said Vulcanmon, "I'll be allowing no fighting in my forge." Matt nodded. "Yes...no fighting." he said, slowly reaching for the antidote dartgun. He'd never get a chance like this. "I'm sorry, but I cannot allow the chance that he could make others suffer, like he did with Jeri." "You leave her out of this!" yelled Beelzemon, looking rather angry now. "You thrirst for power nearly brought this world to the edge of destruction twice," said BioSakuyamon, "I will not let it happen a third time." "That does it!" said Beelzemon as he pulled out his Berenjena shotguns, "I'm gonna blast you so hard, it'll make my Double Impact feel like a Triple Impact!"

Matt looked between the two. "For heavens sake...did the 'no fighting' rule get said in another universe?" he said before drawing the dartgun. "For you own good." he said and fired, only for BioSakuyamon to dodge the dart with ease. "I will not allow you to keep me from my sacred quest," she said. "Sacred quest?" said Beelzemon, "You mean Zhuqiaomon put you up to this?" "Ironic, isn't it?" said the Bio-Hybrid as she leapt at Beelzemon. Matt drew his digivice and was about to get Veemon to break them up when Vulcanmon did the job instead. "NO FIGHTING IN MY FORGE!" he yelled, making everyone jump.

The Shaman Digimon picked up the hammer from his anvil. The hammer grew in his hand until it was a war hammer for him. Seeing how Vulcanmon was already a tall Digimon, this made the hammer quite sizeable. "FORGING STRIKE!" he called as he slammed the hammer into the ground. The impact caused shockwaves that knocked everyone of their feet. Then the ground around where the hammer had fallen turned silvery and several energy beams shot out of it. Matt and Veemon managed to dodge the beams and ended up next to Slayerdramon. "We only came for a repair job. Story of my life." Matt said before duckuing as Beezlemon ended up behind them, knocked back by a blast.

"Beelzemon, what is she going on about? Who's this Jeri?" "It's a long story," said Beelzemon as he got up, "A story that should never have been brought up." "You cannot battle here," said Slayerdramon, "The Forgemaster strictly forbids it and you don't want to go against him." Matt glared and said sarcastically. "Gee...ya think?" he looked over at where BioSakuyamon had landed. "Can we please play nice? I'd like to get Robomon fixed while being in one piece." he called over.

BioSakuyamon gave an uncaring glance towards where Mark was holding Robomon. "Very well, you may have the peace you desire," she said. Suddenly she leaped forward and grabbed Beelzemon by the neck, "But this one comes with me." She quickly flew through the passage they came through, dragging Beelzemon behind her. Matt sighed. "Why me? Is it a curse?" he said slowly. Veemon helped Mark get Robomon, who was now tapdancing over to Vulcanmon.

"Now let me see the little fella," said Vulcanmon as he picked up Robomon. As soon as he gave him a good lookover, he said, "I don't believe it, I've thought I'd seen the last of this kind." Matt shrugged. "Please just stop him singing." he said, leaving it to Mark to explain. He and Veemon wandered over to Slayerdramon. "So...who's this Zhuqiaomon then?" He noticed the stares from Veemon and Slayerdramon. "What?" he said. Veemon said. "He's one of the Sovereigns. You didn't know that?"

"Sovereigns? You mean you guys have kings here?" "Not so much kings," said Slayerdramon, "The Sovereigns are four Mega Digimon who are the gods of this world." "I though Vulcanmon was a god," said Matt. "The Olympus Twelve are more like patrons, the Sovereigns actually rule us." Matt thought about the type of person who might willingly make the personhality currently controlling BioSakuyamon. "Zhuqiaomon sounds like a nutter." he said after a minutes thought.

"He has a more... fiery temperment than the other Sovereigns," said Ryo, "He sent the Devas into our world to cause havoc and capture Calumon. He's not that optimistic towards human/Digimon relationship. He's also the one who enabled to Impmon to first digivolve into Beelzemon." Matt thought about this. "So...basically he made Beezlemon...attacked Earth...now he's blaming him and acting all holier then thou? What a smeghead." he said.

"So what's this thing about Beelzemon nearly destroying the Digital World twice?" asked Matt. Ryo looked saddened by this but said, "That isn't my place to say. And if you want to hear it, I suggest we stop Rika from destroying Beelzemon." Matt nodded. "Hey Mark...you gonna be long?" he called. "It'll take as long as it will have to, laddie," said Vulcanmon, "It's been a long time since I've worked with a Robomon." Matt shrugged. "Shall we go kick some butt then?" he said,

--

SlayerDramon had led the two tamers up to the surface through the maze of tunnels. By now the fight between the splitter troops and Vulcanmons digimon servants was long over. "Ok...which way?" Matt said looking around. Suddenly a loud explosion caught their ears. "That way," said Slayerdramon. The five of them quickly ran around a rock formation to see BioSakuyamon and Beelzemon, now in Blast Mode, fighting in the air. Matt looked at Ryo. "Fight fire with fire?" he said before activating Veemons Biomerge digivolution.

Soon Slayerdramon, Justimon, and UlforceVeedramon were flying toward the combatants. "Beelzemon! You don't have to fight her!" called Matt, "She's not her normal self." "I know that," called Beelzemon, "But she's not giving me a lot of options." UlforceVeedramon shot into the path of BioSakuyamon. "Don't make me break you two up." he said before dodging a shot. "Hey...watch it. That almost hit me."

"Anyone willing to fight with a Demon Lord instead of against one is a traitor," said BioSakuyamon, "Stand down and let me finish my work." "I cannot allow that to happen," said Slayerdramon as he drew his sword. UlforceVeedramon looked over and Matt said. "Don't hurt her...just try to hit her with that dart I tried to hit her with." he said before having to dodge another attack.

"Rika, this is nuts," said Ryo, "You know Impmon well enough that he will never turn against us. There isn't a single Digimon that could make him." "I wish I could believe that, but my master knows otherwise," said BioSakuyamon. "For heavens sake. Zhuqioumons screwing with your brain...can't you see that? I can smell the brainwashing from here." he said, blocking an attack she aimed at Slayerdramon.

"Forget about it," said Beelzemon, "I've been trying to talk her down the whole time. She can't ignore Zhuqiaomon's commands and he clearly doesn't trust me." UlforceVeedramon sighed. "Don't make me kick you...oof!" he said as an attack sent him to the floor...fast.

--

Meanwhile, Vulcanmon was busy working on Robomon. "So, you've encountered his type before?" asked Mark. "Aye," said Vulcanmon, "In fact, Robomon was the first Machine Digimon I ever created. I made plenty of them back then, but eventually, they all digivolved into different Digimon and the entire race has been lost, except in Machine Digimon's data." "So you're saying that Robomon is the predecesor of all Machine Digimon?" said Mark. "Aye," said Vulcanmon, "Small wonder Kurata came up with him when he put all that data together. But there's one more part of him that needs fixing. May I see yer Digivice?" Mark nodded and pulled out his digivice. "It hasn't worked for ages. Why do you want to see it?" he said.

"I can solve that," said Vulcanmon, "The problem is that yer Digivice was made to harness Digimon data to allow its user to transform, but Robomon has assimilated that data. This model makes the link between it and Robomon faulty, that's why he's been acting so strangely." "Wait a minute," said Mark, "You're saying that Robomon is my partner?" "Precisely," said Vulcanmon, "but not quite yet, I need to recalibrate yer Digivice for ye." He placed it on his anvil and began whacking it with his hammer.

Mark jumped back. "That's calibrating?" he said weakly. "Don't worry lad, I know what I'm doing, who do ye think designed them fancy Digivices them others are using?" With a few more whacks, he said, "Alright then, just hold it for a moment and see what happens."

Mark held the Digivice, which surprisingly wasn't dented by Vulcanmon's hammer. It's design was supposedly of the same kind as the ones Kurata had manufactured back in his world. Suddenly it glowed white and changed shape. When the light faded, it had became a D-Power model that was grey and white.

"Whoa, I feel a lot better now," said Robomon. "Good, now you and yer Tamer get crackin' and stop that demented lass from dicin' yer friend to pieces," said Vulcanmon. "How are we supposed to do that?" asked Mark. "Fortunately, I know more about Robomon than just how to fix 'em."

--

UlforceVeedramon took three hits from BioSakuyamon and fell to the ground. "This is getting repetitive...any ideas, Justimon?" he said, getting up as BiuoSakuyamon lunged at Beezlemon again. "If only we had something that can snap her mind out of the hole that Zhuqiaomon put her in," said Justimon. "Oh, that'll be easy," said Matt sarcastically, "Let me call my hypnotheripist and have talk her down." In the privacy of UlforceVeedramons head, Veemon said "You have a hypnotherapist?" Matt was about to correct him when they had to dodge a falling Beezlemon who devolved back to Impmon. UlforceVeedramon readied his sword. "THAT'S ENOUGH…He's not even in demon lord form now." He said.

"I cannot let him fall into temptation," said BioSakuyamon as she readied her staff to deal the final blow. Suddenly a voice called, "Hey,you with the walking stick!" This caused BioSakuyamon to turn and look at Mark and Robomon while Slayerdramon caught Impmon. Matt made a lunge and grabbed BioSakuyamons staff. "You've been naughty...no toys for you." he said.

He was hurled back by a powerful kick. "Ooh, I hate hig-heel shoes," he moaned as he clutched his stomach. "Ok Robomon, it's our turn now," said Mark as his Digivice started shining. "Robomon digivolve to... Computemon!" Robomon transformed into a creature that greatly resembled a desktop computer with a computer monitor-face, a left hand that resembled a mouse, a tail with a plug on the end, and feet resembling a keyboard. Surprisingly, he was actually shorter than Robomon.

The force had forced UlforceVeedramon to devolve back. "Mark..guess Vulcanmon fixed Robomon." said Veemon. BioSakuyamon laughed and said, "You think you can beat me? What are you going to do? Slow my internet connection?" "Something like that," said Computemon, "CODE CRACKER!" Many 0's and 1's flew out of his screen and hit BioSakuyamon. She cringed from the attack, but it's more important affect was that it slowed her down considerably. "Let's take it up a notch," said Mark as he slashed a Blue Card through his Digivice. "Computemon Matrix Digivolve to... SuperComputemon!" Computemon was now taller than a man with a cylander-shaped body. His head was still a computer screen, but now it was on a neck that could move along a series of grooves on his body. His arms were much larger and resembled clamps while wire-like tentacles supported him. Matt yelled. "No...we don't want to kill her!" he yelled, waving at Mark.

"Don't worry, we know what we're doing," said Mark. "BRAIN SCRAMBLER!" called SuperComputemon as the grooves on his body lit up. His head moved rapidly along it, causing a confusing pattern to watch. Then several oddly-colored beams shot from the grooves and hit BioSakuyamon's head. She looked dazed for a minute and then her data shimmered a bit. She drifted towards the ground where she reverted back to Rika. Matt ran over to Rika and injected her with the antidote. "You ok? Say something." he said.

Rika moaned and opened her eyes. "Why is everything green?" she asked. Matt looked at SuperComputemon meaningly. "Just a side-affect, it'll wear off eventually," he said.

**Village of Discarded Data**

Back at the town, the gang were talking. "Are you sure you're ok?" said Takato. He'd been worried ever since the group had returned with only Rika. Of Renamon there was no sign but Rika's Digivice was not showing static, which according to Beezlemon was a good sign. "Don't worry you guys," said Beelzemon, "We're gonna get her back. She and Rika saved me and now I'm returning the favor." He started to walk way, but Matt put a hand on his shoulder. "Just a minute," said Matt, "You keep being vague about being separate from the others or something about this Jeri person. It's time you told us what's going on. Or went on as the case may be."

Beelzemon's shoulders slumped. "I did lot of things I wasn't proud of," he said, "I left my partners because all they did was fight with each other and treat me like a toy. Then I got jealous of the other Digimon, they had lots of friends and could digivolve. I got my butt handed to me by a Deva I tried to take on. Just when I hit bottom, oppurtunity knocked. Zhuqiaomon made me a deal I couldn't refuse, the power to digivolve all the way to Mega." "What was the cost?" asked Matt. Beelzemon looked away from Matt, "To be his personal assassin." Matt shuddered. "This Jeri...she was a target?" he said.

"No... they were all targets. Every human that came to the Digital World and the Digimon that partnered with them. I felt guilty at first, but the power was too much. It was completely addicting. I had to get more. I had to load more data. I guess why they call me the Demon Lord of Gluttony."

"It was at the Southern Gate of the Sovereigns' plane. It still haunts me to this day..."

--

Beelzemon stood over Kyubimon, his claws raised to deliver the final blow. And just as he was about to do just that, someone grabbed his arm. It was Leomon, Jeri's partner. "I don't know who you are, but I do know you're being used," said Leomon, "This power you've been given, is it worth harming these children to keep?" "You don't know anything!" yelled Beelzemon. Leomon punched him in the face and then in the side. "To have power is not to be strong," he said, "You see, I know that better than anyone. Do what you must Beelzemon, but I will not let you harm these children." Beelzemon barely heard what he said, he was shaking with rage at this. Who was he to tell him what to do? With a cry of fury, his claws lashed forward.

Leomon gasped as Beelzemon impaled him with his claws. He felt his energy spill out from both sides of his gut. He roared in pain and fell backwards, the data around the hole disintigrating. "Why... can't you see? Why won't you try to understand the truth?" Leomon directed his next words to Jeri, "Be brave, Jeri. Part of me will always be with you. Remember, you have a lion's heart." These were his last words as his data completely disintigrated and the screen on Jeri's digivice became static. Beelzemon loaded the data floating in the air as he said, "No, to have power is to be strong. I'll keep loading data till no one can stop me! No one! NO ONE!"

--

Matt stared at Beezlemon. "You killed him..." he said slowly before adding. "That isn't you anymore...that Beezlemon would have left me to die when Chaosdramon attacked." he said. Beelzemon's hands shook as he continued, "It's all my fault. Takato's anger at my action made WarGrowlmon become Megidramon. Jeri's misery from losing her partner made her the fuel source of the D-Reaper. There has never been anything I regret more than what I did that day, except leaving my partners." Matt was surprised when he noticed teardrops falling from the three eyeholes in Beelzemon's helmet.

Matt repeated. "You're not that guy anymore...are you...you helped save Takato and the others from Lab one...you saved me and Veemon from Chaosdramon..." he said. "I don't know who these Demon Lord guys are," said Beelzemon, "but if they try to cause the kind of pain I created, then they're no allies of mine." Matt grinned. "That's the killer attitude I know...we kicked Chaosdramons butt...we'll kick theirs too...plus only a digimon with a death wish would mess with my sis...you shoulda seen what she did to Techo once when he played an April fool joke on her." he said.

Meanwhile, Halsemon was flying over the south plains with Chloe and Gabumon on her back. "Man, they could be anywhere," said Chloe, "You sure you know where you're going?" "Actually, I kinda lost Rika's signal awhile ago," said Halsemon. Suddely Gabumon sniffed the air. "There's someone out there." she said. Chloe looked at her partner then out at the desert stretching into the distance, with only a few boulders to populate it. "I can't see anyone..." she said. There was a cry of 'VAMPIRE DANCE' and a few blasts knocked her and Gabumon off Halsemon who was knocked into a boulder.

They looked up to see a Digimon that resembled half-woman, half-cat. Chloe looked at her Digivice, "Persiamon, an Ultimate Beast Man Digimon, her dancing's not meant to entertain, it's supposed to hurt." It chimed. Persiamon growled when another voice said, "Persiamon, down!" Persiamon growled and stepped away. "I'm sorry, pet cats can be so hard to control, don't you agree?"

'Demon Lady is more like it,' thought Chloe. Lilithmon closely resembled a human woman, and a rather pretty one at that. She wore a purple and black dress with gold decorations. Of course the bat wings and the golden right arm gave her away. "Oh you don't need to worry," said Lilithmon in a sweet tone, "I'm just relieved I found you before you got sunburnt out here. The desert can be such a nasty place."

Chloe looked over at Halsemon who was just getting up and staring in horror at Lillithmon the back at Gabumon who was cowering. "Ok...give me one good reason I shouldn't fry you like a deep fried onion ring." she said, aiming. "Fry me?" Lilithmon laughed, no longer sounding sweet, "As if you can possibly do that. DARKNESS LOVE!" She blow a kiss which formed into a dark heart-shaped cloud. The cloud flew over and hit Chloe and Gabumon.

Chloe staggered to her feet to see three Lillithmon. "Ouch." she said and fired a blast at the one on the left. There was an ouch that sounded like the persiamon. "Dammit." she said and fired another blast, in reality almost vaporising Halsemon. "Why don't you take a nap?" said Lilithmon, "You should fell much better." Chloe felt a hard blow to her head and she lost consciousness. "Take care of her lizard mutt," said Lilithmon to Persiamon.

Halsemon glared and yelled 'TEMPEST WING!' sending a whirlwind into the dust near the two digimon, blinding them. "Lets go." she said, swooping down and grabbing Gabumon. She turned in the air to grab Chloe too. "Oh no you don't," said Lilithmon, "NAZAR NAIL!" Acid sprayed out of her golden hand and nearly hit Halsemon. "I'll come back for you, Chloe!" called Halsemon as she flew away. Persiamon was about to follow them when Lilithmon said, "No, let them go. She said she'll be back, and she'll bring the rest of those little brats with her."

**Well…looks like Rika is rescued but Renamon is still MIA….and t make things worse, Chloe is captured by one of the digimon that BioSakuyamon was supposed to get…It's all kicking off…tune in next time and please Read & review.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Digimon, Dr Kurata and digimon tamers is property of Bandai.**

**Nullspace, Matt and Exo-Gene inc are my property. Mark and Robomon are the property of my co-author, Cydra. **

**C.P.S Chronicles: Digital Conspiracy**

**Chapter 14: ****Make Lust, Not War?**

It had been a few days since Rika had been cured. There was no sign of Renamon at all and the gang could see that Rika was a bit concerned, even if she insisted she wasn't. Matt was also worried. He had been unable to get through to his sister since they'd gotten back from Vulcanmon. He was currently on night watch to see if Kurata's men tried to sneak in when Veemon came up behind him with some kind of hot drink. "You okay there, Matt?" said Veemon, "You're getting circles under your eyes." Matt yawned. "I'm fine...nothing to report...for another dimension this place is boring." he said.

"Trust me, it's the boring parts you'd prefer," said Veemon. "True, but at least it keeps you busy," said Matt. Matt took the drink, thinking it was for him and took a gulp. He suddenly stopped and gulped. "Did I just drink this?" he said, looking at the purple liquid. Veemon shrugged. "Mark said you needed some...he called Kr'ta or something like that...erm...Matt?" Matthew had gone completely rigid. Veemon poked him, and he went over like a statue and steam began to slowly come out his left ear in wisps.

Just then, Mark poked his head outside and said, "Hey Veemon, how are you liking that- OH MY GOD!" He quickly ran out and grabbed Matt, who was now producing a sound similar to a kettle. "You didn't give him that, did you?" he demanded. Veemon stuttered. "He thought it was for him. He only had a sip." Matt then chose this moment to snap out of it. He did this by clutching his throat, screaming and jumping in the nearest source of water, causing a decent amount of steam.

"Well, if he gulps down enough, it should save him from internal scarring," said Mark. Suddenly they heard a flapping sound and a very dirty and exhausted-looking Hawkmon and Gabumon dropped down in front of them. The gang ran up. "What happened?" said Takato, helping Hawkmon while Veemon and Guilmon helped Gabumon. "We... were ambushed," said Hawkmon in a tired voice, "Knocked us... out of the sky. Then... she took Chloe." "Who?" demanded Takato. "Lilithmon," then the tired Bird Digimon fainted.

Matt staggered out the water, giggling like a loon. It was the after effects of drinking a alcoholic beverage meant only to be drunk by fire breathing lizards. "Tht...thaaa...that hallucinations...vrry...vrrrr" he said, slurring his words while he pointed at Hawkmon before hitting the side of his own head "…veeery real...wheeee." he said and fell face down in the dirt. Just then Rika and Impmon ran over. "Good news, guys," said Rika, "We found someone who could us find Rena-" She suddenly noticed Matt, "What happened to him?" "He drank something that's only meant for Draconians in small doses," said Mark. Takato looked around and asked, "Where's Guilmon?" "In a stupor, now listen up fellas..."

Matt interrupted, breaking into a rendition of some kind of splitter song until Mark hit him. This only made him start giggling for a few minutes. The others ignored him and listened to Rika. "There's a Wisemon on the other side of town who says he can locate any Digimon lower than Ultimate in the Digital World. And since Renamon's not likely to be that high, I think he find her," said Rika. Veemon nodded. "Thats great. You think he does something that'll sober up Matthew?" he said as Matt broke back into song again.

"Well that sounds great, but there's one little problem," said Veemon, "Hawkmon here says Chloe's been captured by Lilithmon." This seemed to filter through to Matt's extremely fried brain. "Whut? Chloe in trouble...gotta...go help." he said, shaking his head and getting up on the second go. "We can't look for both Renamon and Chloe at the same time," said Mark. "Me and Rika could look for Renamon," said Impmon, "You guys can go and get this Lilithmon creep." Matt nodded. "YES!...Lets go blow this lilith…thingy up." he said happily. Veemon looked at Mark. "How long before he's thinking straight again?"

"I don't know, most humans die after drinking this stuff. Any who survive end up being addled for years, if not for life," said Mark, "But I think after the initial alcohol wears off, he'll be somewhat back to normal." Robomon muttered. "He was normal before it?"

--

The group that had gone to rescue Chloe, consisting of Takato, Mark, Veemon, Robomon, Hawkmon, Gabumon, Guilmon and sadly, Matt, were wishing that Wisemon had been capable of sobering him. Every five minutes Matt would shoot at something with a weapon he'd found in the splitter flyer the gang had salvaged. Luckily he missed, but seeing as each shot caused small purple mushroom clouds in the distance, this was not comfort.

"Are you sure this is the right way?" asked Mark. "Not positive," said Hawkmon, "But if you see a boulder with acid marks on it, that'd be the place." Matt laughed and fired another shot which cause d anew valley in the distance. Veemon muttered. Zhuqiaomons not going to b happy when he see's that."

--

Someone else wasn't happy as well. Persiamon wiped the soot off her face and then noticed that she was on the shore of the new molten lake. She considered attacking them and absorbing their digimons data then had a horrible mental image of exactly what a mountain vaporising gun could do to her at point black range and decided to tell her mistress instead.

--

Lilithmon sat on her throne while Persiamon told her of what she has witnessed. "So that little birdy did tell lead them back. Just as I planned," said the Demon Lady. She turned to Chloe, who was dressed up as a french maid and said, "Tidy up the place dear, we're expecting guests." "Oui, madame," said Chloe, her eyes covered in a purplish-pink glow.

--

Meanwhile, Matt had been stopped from demonstrating the finer points of explosive-aided strip mining as the others had jumped him and confiscated his pistol. "No fair." he said, sulking as the gang finally came across a acid-etched rock. "Well, here's the place," said Takato, "but I don't see anyone here." "Lilithmon's a Demon Lord," said Gabumon, "Her home is probably not even on this plain."

Matt twitched as another pocket of Kr'ta in his blood made him yell "YAY. ROAD TRIP!" before falling over and starting to snore. Veemon looked down. "Ah...he'll be fine there." he said, putting Matt's hat under his partners head. Suddenly the group heard a tinkling sound, like the bell on a cat's collar. They looked up to see Persiamon sitting on top of a boulder. "Nya!" she mewed. Matt looked up at Persiamon. "Look...Kitty." he said. If looks could have killed Persiamons answering glare would have vaporised Matt on the spot.

Gabumon growled and said, "That's the Digimon that knocked us out of the sky. She works for Lilithmon!" It was matts turn to glare. "Good...lets kill her." he said, reaching for his digimon cards. "There's no need to be hasty," said Persiamon, "It was simply a misunderstanding. I thought Halsemon was invading my mistress's territory so I attacked her. Lilithmon's taking care of your friend after she hurt herself when landing." Matt glared. Half-lobotomized he may have been thanks to the Kr'ta but he could still smell an obvious lie. "Pull the other one. It's got bells on." he said

"I can take you them right now," said Persiamon as she hopped down from the rock, "and even if you did destroy me, you'd never be able to find the entrance to Lilithmon's home. It's very well hidden and only a few Digimon know where it is." Matt looked at the others. "Any ideas?" he said, trying to mentally stop his brain floating away. "She does have a point," said Robomon, "We could spend days searching and keep walking by the entrance without noticing." Mark nodded and said, "Ok, take us to your mistress, but any sign of a double-cross and you're pixilated." Matt glared. "Thats one vote...what about you, takato?" he said

"I think Robomon's right," said Takato, "Persiamon does seem the only way we can get to Lilithmon." Matt nodded. "Fine. The I's carry it...one more thing...can I have that gun back?" he asked and was deafened as everyone shouted "NO!" "Excellent," purred Persiamon, "follow me then." As they follewed the Beast Woman Digimon, Matt slipped back into his craziness for a minute. "You know, she's pretty cute for a cat," he said.

--

Meanwhile the others had gone across to the other side of the village to speak with Wisemon. They found his tent with the sign, 'Tent of Seers, psychic services for service,. "This must be the place," said Ryo as he pushed aside the drapery. Sitting at a table was a Digimon dressed like an Arab except all that could be seen of his face was two yellow eyes in black. "Ah, welcome fellow nomads," said the Digimon with an Arabian accent.

Rika looked as her digivice displayed the data for Wisemon. It said that Wisemon could easily end fights by using his 'Eternal Nirvana' to make enemies unwilling to fight at all. "Alright then," said Rika, "We need-" Wisemon held up a finger to stop her. "Ah, I sense you require my services to locate a friend of yours, perhaps your partner Digimon?" he said.

Rika blinked and said, "How did you guess?" "I do not guess, I learn, you have obviously never encountered a Digimon from Witchelny. The Digimon there are gifted with many abilities you humans associate with magicians. But before I reveal more, I must ask for an appropriate sum." Ryo spoke at this. "A price?" he said, annoyed at this.

"I see you are not familiar with currency in the Digital World," said Wisemon, "Fortunately for you, it is not that hard to obtain. For my services, I require 8 data packets." Rika looked at Wisemon. "How can we get data packets?" she said. "They are not that difficult to find. In fact, there goes some now," Wisemon pointed outside where pink balls of data were rolling past like tumbleweeds.

Ryo, Cyberdramon and Rika looked at each other. "Doesn't look too hard." said Ryo. "There is a slight trick to it," said Wisemon, "They cannot be held for long without dispersing. You'll either need to be able to bring them here quickly or have a special container to hold them in." Ryo looked over at the flyer. Matt's group had decided quite wisely not to let him use it given he was as likely to fly into a mountain as he was to get them where they needed. "Maybe there's something in there?" he suggested.

"It's a good thing you've got me here," said Impmon, "I happen to be very speedy when I need to be. Plus, I have this." He held up a key that he had swiped from Matt that morning. Impmon wandered over to the flyer and inserted the key. He got in and looked around. "Which one opens the boot?" he said. He pressed one button and the chair shot him out the top and into the well. "Not that button." he said glumly, climbing out.

"Let's see if anything of these can be used to carry those data packets," said Ryo as he looked around, "and if something has a trigger, don't touch it." "Hmph," grumbled Rika, "You don't need to tell me that." A small canister was in a compartment in the seat. Ryo pressed a button and it unfolded into a device like the one that had been seen when Chaosdramon had attacked. It hovered up and beeped before homing in on a data packet and sucking it up. It turned and beeped smugly, waiting for another order.

"Looks like we got what we need," said Ryo, "Let's round them up and head them home." "Yippie-ki-yay," said Rika sarcastically. The droid sighed electronically. Organics were so weird sometimes. After five more of the strange data targets, it followed the organics. "Hey Rika, watch this!" called Ryo as he picked up a data packet and tossed at the droid like it was a basketball. The droid caught it easily and Impmon and Cyberdramon held up cards that said '10'. "If you're done fooling around," said Rika, "We've got to get another data packet."

The droids hovered after then into the tent after them. "We've got your data packets. Now where's Renamon." said Rika. The droid hovered over to Wisemon. This 'Wisemon' unit looked weird but the droid had met weirder people. "Very well," said Wisemon as he took the data packets. He gazed into his orb and said, "I see a Digimon, a female Rookie, similiar to a fox, she was held captive by the Devas."

"Zhuqiaomon's goons." muttered Rika, remembering how they had ambushed her and Renamon. "Not completely true," said Wisemon, "The Devas now serve the other Sovreigns as well. But this is not impotant right now. I see that this Digimon has been freed by the Digignomes and was being transported to you, but something interfered." Rika glared at Wisemon. "What interrupted? Where is she?" she said desperately.

"She is in the desert plain now, a few miles from Vulcanmon's workshop. But she does not know where she is and is weak from her captivity." Wisemon looked away and said, "That is all I can see." Rika turned to Impmon and Ryo. "We have to get to her." she said. As they turned to leave, Wisemon stopped Ryo for a moment, "By the way, your friend does harbor feelings for you. But you need to change your approach. Just a bit of advice, on the house."

--

Meanwhile, the gang were still following Persiamon. "Are we there yet?" said Matt and Veemon. "Patience, little one," said Persiamon, "We will be there soon." Finally, Persiamon stopped in front of a sheer cliff. "Ooook...has she been at the Kr'ta too?" said Matt to Guilmon. Persiamon placed her paw against a spot and a doorway opened. "Follow me," she said as she went down the stairs. The gang exchanged glances and followed her. "I smell a traaaap." sung Matt as the steps went on.

"No need to fear," said Persiamon, "My mistress is interested in seeing you all." Matt rolled his eyes then twitched as the Kr'ta kicked in again. "Ooooh...thats nice." he said and tried to walk through a wall. Takato and Mark straightened him and Mark said, "This could be more trouble than we thought." Matt giggled at apparently nothing but was led down the remaining stairs into a large room.

The room was lavishly decorated with works of art and had several comfortable chairs. On a larger chair resembling a throne sat a Digimon that greatly resembled an attractive human woman. "Welcome to my humble home,' said Lilithmon sweetly. Matt looked at Lillithmon and giggled some more. "It's a weird person." he said, twitching again.

Lilithmon looked at Matt with interest, "Is he alright?" "He just had a very powerful drink," said Mark. "So his normal inhibitations are lax?" she said. Matt responded by giving Mark a wet willy. Lilithmon smiled to herself and thought 'I'm going to have fun with this one.' Matt suddenly hit Mark without turning and wandered off down a side corridor. Veemon sighed and turned to follow him. Lilithmon turned to her other 'guests' and said, "You must be tired from your long journey. You should rest for a little while. I have plenty of extra bed chambers."

Five minutes later, and one accidental dunk in a spring that Matt accidentally found, he had slightly more marbles. He wandered back into the main hall to see the others just standing in front of Lillithmon. "Hey guys...erm, Miss? Do you have any aspirins or coffee?" he said. Lilithmon smiled and said, "I have a great treatment for hangovers. If you'll come with me, we'll take care of that." Matt looked at her. The more she talked, the more his head ached. Lillithmon seemed to also have a headache too. It turned out the Kr'ta had been a blessing in painful disguise. "Hey...are you trying to fiddle with my brain?" he said and stopped as he suddenly realised why the others were so still. "Oh no." he said.

Lilithmon grabbed Matt's shoulder and said, "I would not make any sudden moves if I were you. It's been so long since I've had strapping young men in my home." Matt gulped. "Er...you haven't seen my sister have you? About my height, Black hair, got a punch like a meteor impact..." he said nervously while trying to pull Veemon to the door with himself.

"Ah yes, she has quite a fiery spirit," said Lilithmon, "and I intend to use it." She snapped her fingers and Chloe walked into the room, dressed in french maid lingeree. Matt stared in shock. "What...the...hell." he said simply before glaring at Lilithmon. "On any other occasion I'd take a photo of that for future blackmail purposes but not to day. Let her go otherwise me and Veemon will kick your butt." He turned to Veemon. "Won't we." he said.

"I think not," said Lilithmon, "I think that you and I are going to have some fun. Or, perhaps we should watch your sister have fun with your friends." Matt suddenly turned a funny colour. "Thats just sick, man." he said before glaring at Veemon. "HEY...THERE'S BUTT KICKING TO DO." he yelled, turning his partner to face him.

However, Veemon's eyes were glowing the same colour as Chloe's. "He won't be able to help you," said Lilithmon, "Digimon are slightly harder to control than humans, but decently easy when they're Rookies. Except for the bird, furry lizard, and the robot, but they're out of the way for now. Now where were we?" Matt shivered as she traced her fingers down his chest.

Matt suddenly pointed. "LOOK...ITS THE SOVEREIGNS!" he said and ran for it. He didn't get far. Persiamon leaped over and knocked him off his feet. Lilithmon picked Matt back up and said, "Now let's not play hard to get. Or perhaps your sister should go first." Matt watched Chloe saunter over to a mesmerized Mark and called, "Stop!" Lilithmon grinned while Matt said, "You'll never get away with this." "I think I already have," she said as she forced a kiss onto the unwilling Matt.

--

Meanwhile, two figures could be seen going through the desert. One was Beelzemon on Behemoth with Rika riding behind him. The other was Cyberdramon carrying Ryo. "We shouldn't be too far," said Ryo, "I think I see that crevice we met Slayerdramon at." Beelzemon looked in that direction and said, "You're right. Maybe Slayerdramon's seen her. Let's go ask." He turned his motercycle towards the mesa and Cyberdramon followed afterwards.

Slayerdramon was standing, seemingly waiting for them. Admittingly, he'd sensed them approaching when they'd been a mile off but he knew it paid to keep people in awe of you. Beelzemon and Rika got off Behemoth as Cyberdramon landed. "I thought you might be back," said Slayerdramon, "Though Vulcanmon hoped you wouldn't need repairs for a while."

Rika said. "We're looking for my partner, Renamon." she said. Ryo added "Wisemon said she was near here. Have you seen her?" Slayerdramon and said, "Yes, I found her out in the desert. She was very weak so I brought her back. She's resting inside right now." Rika ran past Slayerdramon into the cave.

Renamon was lying on a stone bed with a soup made from data packets sitting nearby. Slayerdramon had apparently been taking good care of her as most of her injuries had either been healed or where bandaged up. Rika ran over to her and hugged her. "I'm so glad you're alright," said Rika. Renamon hugged her back and said, "I am now." Ryo explained to Slayerdramon where the others were as Renamon and Rika spoke. He also asked if Henry had been seen anywhere.

"I'm afraid I have seen neither Henry nor Terriermon lately," said Slayerdramon. "I think you might need to consult with Wisemon again about that. However, I think more concern should be reserved for your friends. Lilithmon is a twisted creature whose powers derive from Lust. I fear that she has less than pure intentions for your friends." Ryo remembered how Rosemon had found it difficult to control Matt. "How would she react to someone her mind control wouldn't work on?" he said in a enquiring voice. Cyberdramon also leaned in to find out as well.

"There are very few who could resist her. As far as I know, the only ones who could are female-oriented Digimon, ones that have no gender orientation, or other Demon Lords. But I guess that if she met someone who wasn't in any of those categories who could resist her, she'd pursue him until she has her way." Ryo and Cyberdramon exchanged glances. "Oh boy."

Suddenly several yellow glowing creatures flew in and started chirping in an excited fashion. Slayerdramon turned his attention to them. "It seems the DigiGnomes have located your friends and are willing to lead you to them." Ryo turned to Rika and Renamon. "Renamon. You feel up to going with us?" he said

Renamon stood up and said, "I'm ready to fight with you. But I think we'll have to Biomerge to do it." Rika nodded. "Lets go get our friends back."

--

Lilithmon wasn't having much fun. Matt managed to worm away from her and had barricaded himself in one of her bed chambers. Every time she tried to get in, he scream "HAPPY DAYS!" and shoot at her with some weird ray gun he'd grabbed from Mark. "I thought human men were easier to get into bed when they're drunk," she pouted.

A hologram appeared near her throne. It was Barbamon. "So...I heard you'd caught that Veemons partner." he said half-amused. There was a scream of 'Happy days' in the distance and an explosion that shook the room. A badly singed Persiamon stalked out the side corridor. "He's still not out of ammo." the digimon snarled.

"He's being less than cooperative," said Lilithmon to Barbamon. "Why are you wasting time with him? Just finish them off and be done with them," said Barbamon. "I will, but I want to enjoy them for a bit before I suck the life right out of them." Barbamon sighed, Lilithmon had always been more 'devoted' to her sin than the others. Barbamon said. "Why not use his partner to lure him out then?" he said slowly in a 'talking to idiots' way.

"Well I threatened his sister's virginity, what more can I do?" she said. "How about carrying through with the threat?" said Barbamon. Lilithmon was about to reply when Matt blew up a wall and ran out crying "FREEDOM!!!" Persiamon sniggered and said "Build stronger chambers?" she said cheekily as Matt missed the stairs and hit the wall instead, snapping out of whatever nuttiness he was in as a result. "Wha...where am I? Why do I smell of explosives?...oh dear." he said seeing the staring demon lords

"Who's the guy with the big nose?" he asked. Lilithmon and Persiamon giggled as Barbamon put a hand over his face. "Enough toying around," he grumbled to Lilithmon, "Just delete him already before he causes any more trouble." His hologram then faded out. Matt gulped then raised his blaster. "Move and the room gets a new exit." he said, aiming and wondering what the amber light meant on the gun.

Lilithmon frowned and said, "I've just about had enough of you. I suppose your friend can work as a substitute. You are simply not worth it." Matt glared. "GoodBye." he said and clicked the trigger. The gun simply clicked and it said "Please replace charge clip...have a nice day." Matt looked at the gun like it had spontaneously turned into a chicken. "Ooook..." he said slowly.

Lilithmon grinned and said, "Well things are definitely in my favour now. I give you one last choice. Either submit to be now and be destroyed later. Or I can destroy you now." Matt glared. "A CPS mercenary never surrenders." he said then did a quick sum on the current odds. "Of course running has its good points." he said and turned to leave, only to see Mark and Veemon blocking the stairs. "Thats cheating." he said

The claws on Lilithmon's Nazar Nail lengthened and she said, "So, are we going to have fun or shall I melt you down right now?" Matt gulped. He couldn't fight his friends but when Mark put his arm in a lock, he realised the same wasn't applying to them. "Erm..." he said just as a part of the roof exploded and three shapes dropped through. "Its about time." he said, happily.

"Sorry about the wait," said Justimon, "took us a while to get here." Matt gulped. "About time. Veemon...C'mon." he said, shaking his partner for any kind of response. "Speak to me." Lilithmon scowled at the three intruders "How dare you invade my lair," she growled at Sakuyamon. Her attention shifted to Beelzemon BM, "Especially you, traitor."

"Lady, we've never met before so I could hardly be friends with you," said Beelzemon, "and right now, I'm here to rescue my real friends." Lilithmon smirked and said, "You mean, these friends?" She snapped her fingers and Gallantmon burst through a doorway, his eyes glowing purplish-pink. Matt gulped realising he was holding someone whop would most likely dish out extreme pain. "Oh no!" he said glumly before being head butted by Veemon.

While Justimon and Beelzemon were trying to hold off Gallantmon, Sakuyamon and Lilithmon were fighting. "Matt, go find Robomon!" called Justimon, "We need SuperComputemon's Brain Scrambler attack!" Matt, still a bit addled from the headbutt said "Yes mummy." in a dizzy voice before staggering off, grinning faintly at nothing in particular. Gallantmon wasn't listening and made another lunge with his lance.

--

Matt staggered down the corridor and bumped into Chloe, standing to attention and happily back in her battle gear. "I'm so gonna regret this later." he said and slapped her to wake her up. "OW! Ugh, what am I doing here? And why do I have a craving for French pastries?" said Chloe. "No time for that," said Matt, "We need to find Gabumon, Hawkmon, and Robomon. Particularly the last one. And Mark too, I guess."

Chloe obviously had some memories. "Hold on." she said and punched Matt so hard he spun three times. "Now we can go." she said, dragging him along till they reached the cells. "Chloe!" Gabumon said happily before spotting the gibbering Matt on the floor. "Why is your brother out cold?" said Gabumon.

"Don't worry, it's nothing lasting," said Chloe as she worked on untying the Rookies, "Where's Mark?" "I know where he is, but better yet, I have his Digivice right here," said Matt, holding it up. "I think it's time to Digivolve." Matt and Chloe led the way back, Matt picking up a large rock. "Whats that for?" asked Hawkmon. "Matt smirked. "To snap veemon out of it."

--

Meanwhile, Justimon and Gallantmon were still going at it. Mark and Veemon were distracting Sakuyamon, who couldn't strike back at them. Lilithmon was holding Beelzemon's neck with her golden hand. "Your data's going to do wonders for my power," she crooned, "More than enough to deal with the rest of your little friends."

It was then when a rock bounced off Lillithmons head. "Hope it makes you pay more attention, dipstick." said Matt happily while Chloe digivolved Gabumon to ultimate. Lilithmon glared and said, "You are far too much trouble than you're worth." "No, he's worth too much trouble," said Matt pointing at SuperComputemon who cried out "BRAIN SCRAMBLER!"

The others shook as the charge hit them...except for Mark who Matt took a little too much glee in braining with a rock. Hawkmon watched as Matt laughed a bit. "Er...I think he's ok now." she said. "I have to make sure." said Matt evilly. It didn't take too long for the others to draw their attention to Lilithmon, plus UlforceVeedramon Biomerging. "You can't beat me!" she yelled, "I'm the Demon Lord of Lust!" UlforceVeedramon shrugged. "Bet I can still kick your butt." he said.

"PHANTOM PAIN!" yelled Lilithmon as she sent a cloud of mist at them. The gang scattered to avoid being hit by the supposedly-lethal gas. "You know, for a Demon Lord of Lust, you have no glamour," said Sakuyamon, "and not that much power either." UlforceVeedramon aimed at the demon lord digimon. "You've been a very big pain in my butt…and you attacked my sister…so I have to fry you now." He said. "NAZAR NAIL!" yelled Lilithmon as she fired a spray of acid at UlforceVeedramon.

"VPULSE THUNDER!" called UlforceVeedramon as he fired red lightning that cut through Lilithmon's acid and hit her directly. She screamed as her body's data was loosened significantly. UlforceVeedramon looked at her, Matt rising to the front. "You really, really should not have messed with my sister." he said coldly, readying a second attack.

The others also aimed at Lilithmon and hit her with their most powerful attacks: "SHIELD OF THE JUST!" "AMTHYST WIND!" "THUNDERCLAP!" "CORONA DESTROYER!" "RAY OF VICTORY!" "BRAIN SCRAMBLER!" "FOSSIL FORCE!" "MACH IMPULSE!" Lilithmon screamed as her data was dispersed, "You may have defeated me, but the others won't be so easy. It won't be just the Demon Lords either. You have no idea what you're up against!"

UlforceVeedramon shrugged as he devolved back into his 'components' Matt shrugged. "Wonder what she meant?" he said. Veemon shrugged as the others changed back too except for Gabumon who obviously still had some energy back. Chloe was standing next to her. "Lets just get back to the town...this place gives me the creeps."

--

After the gang had departed, Persiamon came out of her hiding place. She looked at the floating data that was all that remained of her mistress. "Oh well...guess that's what you get when you don't take tamers serious." she said with a smirk and absorbed the data. "Indeed it is," said a voice behind her. Persiamon turned to see Barbamon and Daemon appear. "Oh, sirs," she stammered, "Uh, I was just making sure this data wasn't put to waste." "I understand," said Barbamon, "and lacking a proper vessel, you chose to use your own body. And your only interest was housing your former mistress's remains." "Uh, right," said Persiamon, surprised she was getting away with it.

Barbamon put his hand on her shoulder and said, "That was quite clever of you. However, I have one piece of advice to give." "And what would that be?" Barbamon grinned, "Never try to con the Demon Lord of Greed. GREEDY WAND!" Before Persiamon could move, Barbamon stabbed her with his staff. She screamed loudly as her data dispersed as well. "So naive," said Barbamon as he rearranged the data into a pendant with Lilithmon's crest on it.

Daemon looked down at the crest. "Lilithmon was a fool. Letting her interest in a mind control immune human get herself deleted." He smirked though. "Hopefully the others will do a better job."

**Great. The gang have beaten one demon lord…but there is more on the way and henry is still missing. Will they find him? Find out next time and please review.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Digimon, Dr Kurata and digimon tamers is property of Bandai.**

**Nullspace, Matt and Exo-Gene inc are my property. Mark is the property of my co-author, Cydra. **

**C.P.S Chronicles: Digital Conspiracy**

**Chapter 15: Microphonies**

After the gang defeated Lilithmon, they headed back to the Village of Discarded Data. Once there, they went to Wisemon's tent to ask him where they could find Terriermon and, by extension, Henry. Matt was sitting outside Wisemons tent with Veemon. "So...how clever is Wisemon? I mean...I bet I could get that flyers scanners working again safley...how was I to know its weapon controls were where the scanner buttons usually are?" he said.

Eventually, Takato came out and said, "Ok, we've got good news and bad news." "What's the good news?" asked Matt. "Wisemon found out where Terriermon is." "And the bad news?" asked Veemon. "He's not on this plain," said Rika as she exited. Matt sighed. "Ah well...at least I'm getting plenty of exercise and fresh air...like the doctor back home said...shame most of the exercise involves fleeing for my life." he said. Veemon ignoring his partners moaning said. "Which plain are they on?"

"They're on the forest plain," said Rika, "We've been there before, but getting between plains isn't exactly easy. Not if you want specific plains." "Actually," said Ryo, "since the desert plain's the first one, there's portals directly to other plains throughout this one, like the one to the warped castle. But I don't think there's one to the Sovereigns' plain."

Matt shrugged. "Sounds easy...too easy. My luck will never let us get there directly." he said. Chloe, who'd sneaked up on him said. "Don't be paranoid." giving Matt a mini heart attack in the process. "Which ways the portal we want then?" she said, ignoring matt's glare.

"There's one place here where the rocks are green," said Ryo, "the portal should be there." Chloe shrugged and turned to go get Gabumon, who'd been resting since the Lillithmon fight. Matt shrugged. "Green rocks...should stick out a mile."

**Fifteen minutes later.**

The gang stared at the hundreds of green rocks in front of them. "When did you last use this portal?" Matt said. "Well, it has been a while, I usualy use another plain's portal to get the forest plain, but most often I get there by accident," said Ryo, rubbing the back of his head.

Matt walked up to one of the rocks. "Luck of the irish better be real." he muttered and kicked the stone. Everyone watched as Matt rolled around in pain. "Ok...now todays entry for worlds stupidest home videos is done...how do you open the portal?" Chloe said and jumped as Matt appeared to fall into nothing. "Oh...there it is. Come on, Gabumon. We'd better go make sure my brother doesn't happen to someone."

The rest of them quickly jumped through. Passing through was a weird sensation, but it didn't last long. Then they found themselves beside a lake with many trees growing on the banks. Veemon looked around. "MATT? WHERE ARE YOU?" he called. A stream of bubbles came from the lake and matt came into view steadily, walking to the shore. He was muttering various things regarding portals, non of which are translatable luckily.

"Well at least we're here," said Takato, "but what exactly is this place." "I think this is where we met Andromon," said Rika. Chloe looked around. "Why don't we ask mark? He must have been around here when he worked for Kurata." she said, turning to fix her gaze on Mark and Robomon.

"Well I haven't been around here that often," said Mark, "But that place over there looks new." Mark pointed towards an island in the lake that had a large castle on it. Matt squinted at it. "Well...we need directions anyway...lets just hope those splitter idiots aren't the owners." he said before looked at Rika. "Some new mercs or something that Kurata's got...we ran into them when we found Takato." he explained.

Getting across was a relatively simple matter. There was a bridge that reached the shore and the gang crossed that to the island. Matt and Chloe were first to the door. Matt looked uyp and said. "Wow...never seen a pair of knockers that big.." he said, causing Chloe to stop dead...

--

The two gekomon who were on door duty were shocked as hell when Matt came through the door...while it was till closed. "I meant...the door...knockers." he moaned while chloe walked through the hole like nothing had happened.

"Who is that?" asked one of the Gekomon. "I don't know, but I know who that is," said the other Gekomon as he pointed at Rika, "She's one of those humans that freed us from Orochimon." Matt groaned a bit more. "Has anyone seen my kidney...I think it exploded...ow!" he said as chloe kicked him. "Get up." she said, dragging her brother up. "Erm...we're a bit lost...we need to get to...er...where are we going?" she said. Matt said weakly. "Hopefully a medi-bay..."

"What's with the castle?" asked Guilmon, "Are you guys slaves again?" "No," said one of the Gekomon, "this is our castle. After the D-Reaper War, the Digital World returned to normal, with a couple of additions. All of us Gekomon de-digivolved, except one who became our leader, ShogunGekomon."

Veemon looked up. "I think I remember him...he was a real fighter...where is he?" he said. "He's, uh, being entertained right now," said the other Gekomon, "He has this kind of insommia where he can't sleep unless he heard a particular type of music. This didn't use to be a problem until he had an urge to listen to rock and roll, and all we can play is classical."

Matt looked at them. "So? Has he tried sleep pills?...what?" he said spotting the others gaze. Chloe sighed. "Ignore my brother...he landed in the lake." Gabumon said. "Well...you must have found a way round...otherwise this castle would be alot worse off." she said. "Barely, we found two performers, but, it's hard to describe." Said the first Gekomon.

Takato said. "Who are they?" Matt sighed. "You had to ask..." Rather than tell them, the Gekomon led them to a large chamber. As soon as they opened the doors, the gang clapped their hands over their ears, because in that room was playing some of the worst music they ever heard. Playing it was what looked like a guy in an orange monkey costume and a robot with a volcano on its back. They were both performing for a large red frog with two horns on his shoulders, a topknot on his head, and a grumpy expression on his face.

Matt and chloe seemed to be the only ones uneffected, though they had pulled out various weapons. "Reminds me too much of our stepdads singing..." said Chloe. Matt had given up on his gun and simply threw a rock at one of them. "SHUT THE SMEG UP FOR ANCIENTS SAKE!!!" he yelled too little effect.

After they held Matt till he calmed down, the gang looked at each other. Matt said weakly. "I thought sonic-based weapons were illegal." The large frog glared and said, "Who dares to interupt my entertainment?" Takato checked out his Digivice, "ShogunGekomon, Ultimate Level, special attacks are Musical Fist and Frog Kick." Rika checked hers for the monkey, "Joker #1 is Etemon, an Ultimate Puppet Digimon whose ego is only matched by his Dark Network and Concert Crush attacks." Ryo looked at his Digivice, "Joker #2 is Volcamon, an Ultimate Android Digimon who's Magma Bass is even heavier than he is, and that's a lot."

Matt glared at them. "If only they're singing as as good as their fighting skills." he said. Chloe sniggered at this. Veemon had finally managed to get his senses back. "How can something not in pain make that noise?" he said faintly. Gabumon looked shell shocked and Robomon had unplugged his ears.

"Hey man, it's pretty uncool to interupt a cool cat's performance," said Etemon with an Elvis-like impersonation. "Yeah, get your place to jam," said Volcamon. Matt and Chloe looked at Etemon. "You realise how fake that impression is...elvis?" Chloe said sarcastically, earning a glare from Etemon. "Who dares intrude here?" repeated ShogunGekomon, who was clearly not in the mood to keep waiting.

"Uh, we're just travelers who are looking for our lost friends," said Matt, quite aware of what happens if you annoy large monsters for too long. ShogunGekomon grumbled and said, "Well we don't have any of your friends here, so just go." "Actually, it's about to be nightfall soon," said Renamon, "It would be easier for us if we could spend the night here."

ShogunGekomon huffed. "Fine...but NO MORE INTERRUPTIONS!" he said, yelling the last part. Matt wiped some slobber off his glasses. "And to think I got upset when people talk during movies." he muttered.

"So beat it, you little punks," said Volcamon, "We've got a song to perform." As Etemon and Volcamon opened their mouths, the gang quickly hightailed it out of the room. Out in the courtyard, Matt said simply. "I could shoot them...real easy." he said before seeing the others stares. "What?...just saying...its an option."

"Even if we beat them, I doubt ShogunGekomon will let us leave after that," said Mark. "Personally, I don't those two are doing a good job," said Impmon, "The big guy's obviously not getting enough sleep." Matt looked at Impmon. "Well..I can't sing worth a damn and neither can Veemon." he said and turned as Veemon glared "I heard you in your sleep...was wondering why that mirror broke till I played the cam footage." Chloe nodded. "He's right. We can't get rid of the current act if we haven't got replacements."

"I'm sure one of us could sing," said Ryo, "How about Rika? You can sing pretty well." Rika glared at him, but her cheeks blushed a little. "I'm not that good with rock," she said. Chloe said. "What about Robomon? Maybe he could download off Itunes?...where is he?" The gang looked around and saw that Robomon had indeed done a houdini and vanished.

Volcamon laughed as Robomon watched. "I can't believe those champions fell for it...it was too easy to use that virus you made, Etemon. They'll keep treatin us like kings." he said. Etemon grinned. "Yup...and best of all...the sovereigns are all bus with these new guys and the demon lords." he said.

"You think ShogunGekomon will ever get over that bug?" asked Volcamon. "Not until he hears a real rock song, and we don't have to worry as long as we keep faking it." Said Etemon. Robomon listened and recorded the conversation before slowly sneaking away. After a bit he found the courtyard and the others. Renamon was the first to see him. "Robomon...where were you?" she said. "Finding something out," said Robomon, "I've got something to show everyone."

Robomon replayed the conversation. When it ended, the gang were grim. Matt said simply. "Ok...lets nuke em." he said happily, pulling out an EMP grenade and walking towards Shogungekomon's room till Renamon jumped in front of him to stop him. "If ShogunGekomon looses his performers, he'll never be rid of that virus," she said. "Why don't we get rid of it?" asked Guilmon.

Robomon nodded and replayed what Etemon had said. "So...we have to do a song after all." said Chloe.

--

Matt watched from the sidelines with Veemon as the others got ready to try. "Why aren't you gonna try too?" he saked Matt. Matt shook his head. "I can't sing to save my life." The gang went to ShogunGekomon's entertainment room. "What do you want?" snapped the top frog. "Your lordship, we'd like to perform for you," said Takato.

Matt looked at Chloe, who had a similar lack of singing talent. "I really think this won't work...they must have thought of this." she said. Guilmon was the first to try, "Oh do you know the muffin mon, the muffin mon, the muffin-" "MUSICAL FIST!" yelled ShogunGekomon and blasted Guilmon off the stage with a sonic attack from his horns.

Matt and chloe wordlessly parted as Guilmon landed between them. "So...how is the plan going?" said Matt as Chloe got the med kit out. Renamon tried her luck next, "I still hear your voice when you sleep next to me-" "MUSICAL FIST!" bellowed ShogunGekomon and blasted Renamon off the stage. "Must have been to soft," said Mark.

Chloe shrugged. "Don't worry me...I got plenty of medpacks." she said. Matt eeped when he realised he and Veemon were next. "I cough got a sore throat...we...can't sing." he said pathetically to the others. "Get on up here," commanded ShogunGekomon. "Ok, but don't expect to like this." Said Matt.

Matt whimpered...took a breath... "MUSICAL FIST!". Matt managed "But I haven't star..." and came too in the courtyard next to Veemon. "Guess he heard you making the wise cracks...ouch." said Veemon. Impmon got up next, "I wanna rock and roll all night, and party every day." "MUSICAL FIST!" Impmon was sent through the same hole and landed on Matt's chest. "Boy, he is one tough critic…" muttered Impmon.

Matt sighed. "Are you sure I can't shoot someone? I have an urge to injure that elvis impersonating monkey." Veemon looked over. "What would that achieve?" Matt grinned insanely. "well...I'd feel better." He said. Robomon was next up. He just stood there with the remote, not doing anything. "What's wrong with him?" asked Chloe. "He's got stage-fright," said Mark.

Saying ShogunGekomon was not amused would like be saying Matt was a bit twitchy at the moment...a serious understatement. "IS THIS THE BEST YOU CAN MANAGE? GET OUT OF HERE!" he yelled. Chloe and Gabumon heard it. "The drill sarge's here?" she said confused.

ShogunGekomon's eyes started glowing red and he started roaring. "Oh no!" cried a Gekomon, "He's lost his temper, he's going berserk!" Matt pulled out his digivice. "Great...shouldn't be too hard." he said, digivolving Veemon to flamedramon and further to Paildramon.

Suddenly Robomon noticed the crisis and it brought him out of his stage-fright. "Robomon digivolve to... Computemon!" The newly digivolved Machine Digimon lifted up the mike and started singing…

_Hey  
Everyone, listen up  
Your attention, if you please_

_We wanna give you a warning  
'Cause I found out this morning  
'Bout a dangerous, insidious computer virus_

_If you should get any mail with the subject "Stinky Cheese"  
Better not go taking your chances  
Under no circumstances  
Should you open it or else it will..._

_Translate your documents into Swahili  
Make your TV record Gigli  
Neuter your pets  
And give your laundry static cling_

_(Look out) It's gonna make your computer screen freeze  
(Look out) Erase the Easter Eggs off your DVDs  
(Look out) Erase your hard drive and your backups too  
And the hard drive of anyone related to you_

_Virus alert!  
Delete immediately before someone gets hurt  
Forward this message on to everybody_

_Soon, very soon, it will make all the paint peel off your walls  
It'll make your keyboard all sticky  
Give your poodle a hickey  
And invest your cash in stock in Euro Disney_

_Then it will tie up your phone making crank long distance calls  
It'll set your clocks back an hour  
And start hogging the shower  
So just trash it now, or else it will..._

_Decide to give you a permanent wedgie  
Legally change your name to Reggie  
Even mess up the pH balance in your pool_

_(Look out) It's gonna melt your face right off your skull  
(Look out) And make your iPod only play Jethro Tull  
(Look out) And tell you knock-knock jokes while you're trying to sleep  
(Look out) And make you physically attracted to sheep_

_(Look out) Steal your identity and your credit cards  
(Look out) Buy you a warehouse full of pink leotards  
(Look out) Then cause a major rift in time and space  
And leave a bunch of Twinkie wrappers all over the place_

_That's right, it a..._

_Virus alert!  
Delete immediately before someone gets hurt  
Forward this message on to everybody_

_Virus alert!  
Delete immediately before someone gets hurt  
Forward this message on to everybody  
Warn all your friends, send this to everybody  
Tell everyone you know, tell everybody now_

_If you get infected, you'll wish you had never been born  
So, before it e-mails your grandmother all of your porn_

_Turn off your computer and make sure it powers down  
Drop it in a forty three foot hole in the ground  
Bury it completely, rocks and boulders should be fine  
Then burn all the clothes you may have worn any time you were online_

_Virus alert!  
Delete immediately before someone gets hurt  
Forward this message on to everybody_

_Virus alert!  
Delete immediately before someone gets hurt  
Forward this message on to everybody_

_Virus alert!  
Delete immediately before someone gets hurt  
Forward this message on to everybody  
Warn all your friends, send this to everybody  
Tell everyone you know, tell everybody now_

_What are you waiting for?  
Just hurry up and forward this to every single person that you know_

_Hit... "send"... right... now_

Matt found himself humming along to the song when he spotted movement near the gate. "Hey...chloe..." he said evilly.

--

Etemon and Volcamon had been watching the gangs attempts and had enjoyed it when ShogunGekomon had lost it.

However when Computemon started singing and it showed it was working they realised it was time to exit stage left. "I told you we shoulda deleted those humans when we saw them." said Volcamon. Etemon was about to reply when they spotted Paildramon and Skullbaluchimon blocking the way and their tamers in front of them. "You can't go yet. You'll miss your encore." said Matt evilly.

With one swift double blow, the two 'rock stars' were sent flying backwards. Coincidentally, ShogunGekomon fell backwards and into a final peaceful slumber. Etemon and Volcamon landed by Computemon. "You stupid bucket of bolts!" yelled Etemon, "That was the best gig we ever had!" "Let's pound him into scrap metal," said Volcamon. Computemon responded by digivolving to SuperComputemon and calling, "SOFTWARE SHOCKER!" He then threw electrified punches into his opponents' guts which deleted them.

Matt sighed. "Well...the good news is we blasted those rejects to the next century...problem is...how do we ask directions to him now?" he said, pointing to the sleeping ShoginGekomon. "Your friends might have gone to Primary Village," said one of the Gekomon, "It's not far from here. Just head that direction as the Crowmon flies." Matt sighed. "Lets go then...man, I'm half hoping we run into kurata's goons...I have alot of rage to let out." he said.

Chloe ignored Matt and said to Gekomon. "So...whats this primary village? It sounds like a nursery." she said. "Something like that," said Gekomon, "It's a new thing. When a Digimon is destroyed but its data isn't loaded, it's sent there to be reborn as a digiegg." Guilmon suddenly started growling. Everyone looked up to see an Exo-Gene drone hovering there, listening in. It dodged Matt and Chloes blasts and quickly fled. "Oh man...what better place for that nutter to get new digimon then a place where they appear."

**Great...now Kurata and his merry band of lunatics know where newly born digimon appear...and its also where Henry is.**

**Looks like the gang have their work cut out next chapter.**

**Please Read & Review.  
**


	16. Chapter 16

**Digimon, Dr Kurata and digimon tamers is property of Bandai.**

**Nullspace, Matt and Exo-Gene inc are my property. Mark and Robomon are the property of my co-author, Cydra. **

**C.P.S Chronicles: Digital Conspiracy**

**Chapter 16: Mutiny in the Nursery**

Matt looked around the woods. He opened his mouth and his sister interrupted. "If you say 'are we there yet?' one more time, I will give you to Gabumon as a chewtoy," said Chloe sweetly. "I would not recommend letting her," said Mark, "Gabumon's not looking quite right." Indeed, Gabumon was looking somewhat paler than usual. "I'm fine, really," said Gabumon, "just a little queasy." Chloe walked fast to catch up to her partner. "You don't look good. Mark, did Dr Kurata ever document anything like this?" she asked.

"He was mostly interested in how to take Digimon apart and put together with human DNA," said Mark, "but I think I once heard him mention something called the X-Antibody, whatever that is." Veemon snorted, "That? That's just a legend Elecmon told us when we had just hatched." "And weren't the Seven Great Demon Lords just legends too?" said Rika, "Legends do have a tendency of being reality in the Digital World," said Renamon. Veemon gulped, "Elecmon might know more. I'm sure we're nearly there."

Suddenly they heard a very creepy howling. Then a tree was blown apart nearby. Standing where the tree had been was a large bear-like Digimon with a red mask on top of its head. "What's that?" asked Matt. "I'm not getting any data on him," said Takato, "but he looks like Wendigomon." "Oh great. Why can't we meet a friendly Digimon for once?" said Matt, firing a few shots while Veemon digivolved to Flamedramon and Gabumon to Garurumon. "CABLE CRUSHER!" yelled Wendigomon and his arms extended forward and punched Flamedramon and Garurumon. "HOWLING DESTROYER!" Six cannons protruded from his chest and started firing energy bullets. The group quickly scattered to get out of the way.

Chloe and Matt all aimed EMP rifles while the others reached for digivolve cards when all of a sudden Wendigomon turned and retreated. "Ok...what happened there?" said Matt. Flamedramon turned and said, "What? You're complaining?" Mark turned to Takato and asked, "How different is that guy from Wendigomon?" "Only that the mask on his head should be white." "I thought so," said Mark, "It's another Bio-Hybrid." "Great, Kurata's recruiting again," said Matt glumly. Chloe however was thoughtful. "If he was working for Kurata, he'd have wasted us, not run away." "Well he's not bothering us now," said Ryo, "Let's get to Primary Village before he changes his mind." Matt nodded. "So...are we nearly...OW!" he said as Chloe thumped him over the head.

Eventually, the group crossed over a hill and found Primary Village on the other side. It looked like an enormous nursery with buildings shaped like letter blocks, bouncy ground, and several toys lying around with a few Fresh Digimon playing with them. Matt walked out first and peered around. A few of the Fresh Digimon peered at him. One, a black one with yellow eyes that reminded matt of a file photo of a Heartless peered at him with what he swore was a 'oh, you're gonna get it' look. Matt, who was getting used to how his luck was working simply sighed and the gang jumped as a lightning bolt hit him from above, making him twirl and fall over. A red Digimon appeared, glaring at Matt. "Another one of you guys? Don't you learn?" it said. Chloe peered harder and spotted the remains of a combat drone in the long grass, probably destroyed earlier. An Exo-Gene symbol on it.

Rika pulled out her digivice and looked at its data, "Elecmon, a Rookie level Reptile Digimon, he may be small, but he's very protective." "Elecmon, we mean no harm," said Renamon, "Those who attacked this place are our enemies." A faint 'I hurt again' came from where Matt was, a wisp of smoke rising. The black Digimon bounced over and peered at Matt, with a few others. Veemon nodded. "Elecmon, it's true, we're not with those bots...er...you kinda blasted my tamer though," he said, pointing at Matt who was trying to get the Digimon off him, much to their amusement.

Elecmon snorted and said, "I haven't defended this village this long by letting every human and Digimon march through like a public park. You have any proof you won't cause harm?" Veemon pointed at Matt who was apparently overwhelmed. Chloe snorted in an attempt not to laugh. Rika rolled her eyes. "You think he's a threat?" she said, pointing to Matt. Elecmon rubbed his chin and said, "Hmm, he looks more like the type who'd hurt himself more than others. And if he's the leader of your little group, I suppose you're harmless enough." There was a yell of 'OI' from Matt's direction. "He's just having a bad week," said Chloe cheerfully. Matt finally got free." We were going to warn you about the drones, but you seem to be on top of it. One of us is not well," he said. Chloe nodded, "It's my partner, Gabumon. She's sick."

Elecmon looked at her and said, "We've got an infirmary for when the little ones get sick. She can rest in there for a bit." As the others followed Elecmon, Impmon looked thoughful. "So this is where Digimon are reborn," he said thoughtfully and then went to catch up with the group.

Matt was about to turn to go after Impmon when Guilmon went "TERRIERMON!" after he went in. Matt and Veemon came in to see none other then Henry's partner on one of what passed for beds. He looked like he'd gone a round with Kurata's hybrids and lost. "Ok, Kurata's dead meat," said Chloe. "He showed up yesterday," said Elecmon, "Looked like he took quite a trouncing. Couldn't get what attacked him out of him before he passed out. Hasn't woke up since." Chloe nodded. "How long since those droids turned up?" Takato shrugged. "They got beaten though," he said. Chloe shook her head. "They were recon models, scouts." Matt sighed, "It never rains but it pours."

Impmon tapped Elecmon on the shoulder and said, "Um, I've got a favor I need to ask you." "What's that?" asked Elecmon. "This is where the data of Digimon whose data weren't loaded goes right?" "Yes." "What about the data of Digimon that were loaded?" Chloe sighed. "Impmon, maniac doctor sending death squads?" she said sarcastically. Matt shook his head at Chloe silently. He had a faint idea why Impmon was asking. Elecmon frowned and said, "That would be more difficult. But if the Digimon who loaded the data were willing and the data could extracted, I suppose it could be remade into a Digi-egg." "Well, there's a Digimon that I loaded some time ago and I feel guilty about doing so. So I was hoping I could get him extracted and remade here," said Impmon. "I'm guessing you were a higher stage when you did that," said Elecmon. Impmon nodded. "You'll need to change into that form for the data to be removed."

The gang gave Impmon a bit of room but a few of the Fresh Digimon peered to get a good look. They scattered squeaking with fright as Beezlemon appeared where Impmon had been in all his glory. Elecmon stiffened and said, "You don't have a very good reputation around here." "Hey, he helped us destroy the D-Reaper," said Takato. Elecmon glanced at Takato and back at Beelzemon and said, "Well, if he really did, I suppose he can't be pure evil. But his data will need to be softened slightly so this other data can be removed." "I believe I can assist there," said Robomon before digivolving.

Computemon looked over at Beezlemon. "You may feel a slight pinch," he said before yelling out 'CODE CRACKER!' and firing his attack at the Mega level Demon Lord. Beelzemon winced as his data was frozen. Computemon then intoned "SPIRIT HACK!" A concentrated beam of red light shot from his eyes and hit Beelzemon. Beelzemon winced as data was slowly extracted from his form. Beezlemon slowly changed back to Impmon while a cloud of data circled where it had been extracted from him. "Are you ok?" said Takato, helping Impmon up. "I will be if this does what I hope it does," said Impmon as he watched the data cloud. Everyone watched as the cloud slowly got thicker and denser, growing smaller into a definite egg shape.

--

Outside, Dante and his strike force sat at the treeline. This was his merc teams first assignment since Matt had killed his brother and he wasn't gonna mess up. Their orders had been simple. Take over the area, digitize and download any lifeforms, and set up a permanent data extractor to catch any re-emerging data signals. "Sir, what if those Tamers are in the area?" asked one of the mercs. "Then take them out before they do something," said Dante, "But save their merc for me." The guys in his team nodded. One of them, peering through some binoculars said, "Movement, it's one of those Tamers, the girl." "Should have known," said Dante, "Ok, prepare to-" He was cut off by a loud howling coming from behind them.

Back in the tent, the gang was brought out of looking at the steadily-forming egg by several screams and sounds of EMP rifle fire. Flashes could be seen beyond the treeline, which was visibly shaking as something huge went to town on Dante's team. "I'm guessing it's that hybrid again," said Chloe as a blue fireball from a plasma grenade was seen. Elecmon looked in the direction of the fighting and said, "Sounds like it's Wendigomon again. He showed up the other day as well and has been thrashing nearly everything in his path." Rika suddenly had an idea. "Did Terriermon turn up the same day?" she asked. One of Dante's men sailed and skidded 5 feet though the grass before stopping, literally and physically, dead. Elecmon scratched his head and said, "Come to think of it, yes. Maybe it was Wendigomon that attacked him. Wish he could have told me before he passed out."

Everyone exchanged glances. "Wendigomon isn't one of Terriermon's forms. How could Henry's hybrid form have ended up with that?" said Takato. The shooting had stopped now and Wendigomon was heading their way, chasing Dante, who took one look at the gang and activated his emergency teleporter, leaving the gang with the furious hybrid. "Erm...he looks mad," said Matt worriedly. Wendigomon roared again and charged Mark. He quickly got out of the way at the last second, causing the monster to crash into a building. "What does Wendigomon digivolve from?" asked Mark. Takato said, "From Lopmon or Kokomon, not Terriermon," as Guilmon and Renamon digivolved and tried to stop Wendigomon from wrecking anything else. Most of the baby Digimon were panicking and running, well, bouncing for cover. Matt and Veemon were trying to herd a few towards the building further away from the battle while Chloe helped Gabumon, who was still weak, away and out the firing line. "Lopmon is closely related to Terriermon," said Ryo as Cyberdramon tried to stop Wendigomon, "maybe the data got more corrupted than usual." Matt and Veemon had got another load of baby Digimon to safety when they spotted Terriermon limp out where he'd been resting. "Oh hell, GET BACK IN THERE!" he yelled, getting Wendigomon's attention. "Oh smeg," said Matt weakly.

Wendigomon roared again and started to charge Terriermon. Before anyone could do anything, a voice roared "FIST OF THE BEAST KING!" A fireball shaped like a roaring lion's head hit Wendigomon and sent him flying. Matt looked to see where the attack came from and saw a Digimon that resembled a humanoid lion wearing pants and a sword on his belt. His D-ark beeped and displayed info. "Leomon, well, it worked. Nice to know," he said, before running over to Terriermon. "Have you got a death wish?" he said, more concerned then angry, while Veemon as Flamedramon went over to help out the others. "You... have... to calm him... down," groaned Terriermon, "That's... Henry." *"Great, we need the world's biggest tranq dart," said Matt, sarcastically. At that point Flamedramon went over the twos head to hit a building with a crash, instantly devolving back to Veemon who flickered weakly. Wendigomon roared and leapt away. "How comes he isn't finishing his battles?" asked Chloe. "Perhaps he lacks the control to do so," said Leomon, "Or perhaps he preserving his strength for something." Matt gulped. "Did anyone else just get a mental picture of what a digivolved Wendigomon hybrid could do to us?" he said weakly, injecting a med-nanite shot into Veemon's arm. "We've just got to go after him and calm him down before that," said Rika, "Where's Impmon? We could have used his help in that fight."

Matt nodded. "Yeah. Where is he?" he said, going into the hut and spotting Impmon. Impmon was panting heavily. Apparently the extraction took a lot more out of him than he though. "You okay?" asked Matt. "I just need to talk to Leomon for a bit," said Impmon as he walked over to the Champion Digimon. Matt nodded and walked over to another of the doorways, and came face to face with Dante. The two stared till Dante screamed 'MURDERER!' and lunged at Matt, missing and hitting the doorframe head first. Matt poked him, shrugged, stole his weapon and clicked the guy's own cuffs on him. "Now stay," he said before walking out.

Impmon walked over to Leomon and said, "Um, I don't know if you know me, but..." "I know you very well, Impmon," said Leomon, "I've been a part of you for a long time remember?" Matt stood back. He had a good feeling that he shouldn't get involved or say one of his usual sarcastic answers. "Well, I know I don't deserve it," said Impmon, "but I was really hoping that you could forgive me for what I've done to you and Jeri." "On the contrary," said Leomon, "Your actions after that have indeed made you worthy enough to be forgiven. However, I feel there must be some form of retribution first." Leomon contemplated this for a while and then punched Impmon non-fatally in the gut. Impmon gasped as all the air was knocked out of him. "All is forgiven," said Leomon. "C-c-cool," wheezed Impmon as he lifted a thumb's up.

Matt winced as Impmon was winded but was happy when Leomon had obviously pulled the punch. "Er, nice to meet you. Private Matthew Lynch, sir" he said. Mercenaries were not high on any honourable creature's list. "I somewhat remember you from Impmon's actions, but not much," said Leomon, "But I see that you're a noble warrior with a good heart. It is a pleasure to meet you." Matt sighed inwardly. "Impmon said good things about you too. Pleasure is mine." Chloe came round the corner at that moment saying "Matt? Why is Dante tied up in the hu...??!....isn't he dead?" she said. "We'll take care of him later," said Matt, "First we need to go after Henry before he destroys anything else."

Chloe shook her head. "Gabumon's getting worse. We don't go anywhere until I see some kinda cure," she said. "The X-Antibody is not a disease," said Robomon, "It's an irregularity in a Digimon's data configuration that makes their appearance significantly different from normal Digimon and strengthens them against viral infections. Gabumon is feeling ill simply because her body's adapting to it." Chloe didn't say a thing but Matt had a feeling what she was thinking. Technically, Gabumon had been the only survivor of when the ship she'd been assigned to had fallen afoul of a defense satellite left by Kurata and the two were now firm friends. "Gabumon will be fine," said Matt, "It's Henry that's in real danger. If he isn't stopped, he could lose himself. Or possibly worse." Chloe nodded stiffly. "You're right, let's go," she said before heading back to where Gabumon was. Matt looked at Robomon. "I hope you're right about Gabumon for your sake, cause my sis has a temper like a nuclear disaster," he said, weakly before following, calling to Veemon as he went.

The gang went into the forest to look for BioWendigomon. His trail wasn't that hard to follow. They just had to look for every other fallen tree. "This has to be the easiest search in existence," said Matt. Ryo nodded, "But the main work will be when we find him." "We have to be on guard," said Leomon, "BioWendigomon will not be easy to keep down. I suggest you all digivolve to your Champion forms for when he comes." Matt nodded pulled out a digivolution card. Chloe also got one out. "You up to it?" she asked Gabumon. "I think so," said Gabumon. "Uh, I'm gonna sit this one out, if ya don't mind," said Impmon. The gang nodded. A beeping made Matt look down. "Here he comes," he said, turning till the direction arrow on his wristcomp pointed straight ahead.

With a loud roar, BioWendigomon sprang out from the trees. The group quickly scattered to get out of his way. "And Henry always used to hate violence," said Rika as she swiped a Digivolution card through her Digivice. Matt swiped a speed upgrade through too, then got an idea, swiping a Poison Ivy attack card too. "Grab him with the attack," he called to Flamedramon. Flamedramon did just that, tying up the hybrid with vines. For a second it looked like it'd work, till BioWendigomon swung Flamedramon round like a mace till the attack broke. "Ok, something else then," Matt said. Cyberdramon got behind BioWendigomon and grabbed him. But surprisingly, BioWendigomon judo-flipped him and tossed him down hard. "I forgot that Henry took martial art lessons," said Takato.

BioWendigomon brought his fist down, trying to finish off the stunned Cyberdramon, only just missing. "He looks angry, real angry. Remind me to dropkick Kurata if we ever catch him," said Matt. Suddenly a fireball burst up from the trees nearby, narrowly missing BioWendigomon and definitely surprising him. "So fire spooks him, huh?" said Takato, "Guys, combine your fire-based attacks!" "PYRO BLASTER!" "FOX TAIL INFERNO!" "FIRE ROCKET!" "FIST OF THE BEAST KING!" The attacks combined into a large fireball that hit BioWendigomon and hurled him into a lake. Matt ran towards the lake, antidote nanites in hand. "One chance," he muttered, aiming at where the Bio-hybrid was thrashing in the water, trying to get steady again and fired. BioWendigomon suddenly doved underwater and the nanite shots missed. "Don't worry," said Matt, as he reloaded, "He'll have to come up for air some time." Suddenly the ground around them started to rumble and the water's surface was stirred to a froth. "Do we want that to happen?" asked Chloe.

Matt thought about it and whimpered faintly as a new Digimon emerged, an enormous purple rabbit-like Digimon. From that simple description, one would normally not take this seriously. But this rabbit looked like it came from the scariest corner of Nightmare Land. "No, not really, I have an idea though, run away?" he suggested. "He's become BioCherubimon," said Leomon, "but his anger has caused him to assume the Virus version." "I'm guessing we're more or less stuffed then?" said Matt, ever the optimist. Chloe shrugged. "Maybe we can give him the run around, tire him out so he devolves." she suggested.

Suddenly BioCherubimon lifted his arms up and the whole sky became thick with storm clouds. "That's not a good sign," said Mark. Matt glared. "Now what's he doing?" he said, reaching for an EMP grenade. "STORM OF JUDGEMENT!" roared BioCherubimon and several lightning bolts fell from the sky. The gang quickly scattered to avoid being zapped. "We have to stop him now or he'll destroy the whole forest!" said Ryo. "I was afraid someone would say that," said Matt, "We'll have to go up to Mega." Matt shook his head. "That'll leave my sister a sitting duck and even if Gabumon could, she's hardly in the right state at the moment," he said, throwing the grenade at BioCherubimon, only to his horror for the Digimon to zap it before it detonated, vaporizing it. Chloe glared. "I'll be fine, which is more then we'll all be if you don't do it," she said angrily. Matt returned the glare before saying, "Just be careful," before swiping the biomerge card.

The gang quickly biomerged, except for Leomon, Gabumon, Robomon, and Impmon. "I hope Henry hasn't got that much steam," said Justimon. UlforceVeedramon almost was the example to the answer, dodging a blast. "There's your answer. Henry, it's us for smeg's sake!" he said. BioCherubimon roared "LIGHTNING SPEAR!" and threw a lightning bolt at UlforceVeedramon. "I think he's too angry to be reasonable," said Sakuyamon. "It's not like we can thump him silly though," said UlforceVeedramon, putting up his shield just in time as the hybrid shot another Lightning Spear at him. "Ack, that definitely smarts." "I've got an idea," said Gallantmon, "when I was BioMegidramon, my anger had complete control over me. It was like all my pent-up anger was all let out. I think that's what's happening with Henry." "Great, and it only took you venting on a whole battlefleet to calm you down," said UlforceVeedramon. "We don't have to beat him," said Sakuyamon, "Just weaken him enough so that SuperComputemon can take care of the rest." "Ok, that'll work," said UlforceVeedramon. "RAY OF VICTORY!" He yelled, firing the attack straight at the hybrid. Sadly it did little more then make the hybrid even more angry.

The others on the ground were watching the battle. "This doesn't look like it's going very well," said Impmon, "I gotta help those guys." "But you're still weak from that extraction," said Mark. "I'm strong enough to digivolve and they need all the help they can get. Leomon put his hand on Impmon's shoulder and said, "I believe you're right. I may not know you personally very long, but I know that you have a fiery heart and strength to match it." Chloe was glaring up at the battle, next to Gabumon. "We gotta help too," she said simply before looking at Gabumon and noticing that her partner was starting to look different. Her data flickered a bit and she said, "I'll be fine, I just need to go up to Ultimate." Chloe nodded and swiped the Blue Card through. Gabumon quickly digivolved to Garurumon, but as she prepared to go up to Ultimate, her data flickered more than ever. "Garurumon digivolve to… DinoTigermon!" "Erm." said Chloe stepping back as the energy cleared. It wasn't SkullBaluchimon. She looked remarkably different. She resembled a blue saber-toothed cat with robotic armor and very long fangs. Her digivice said it was DinoTigermon, another prehistoric Digimon known to carry this X-Antibody. "Gabumon?" she said. "It's still me," said DinoTigermon. Chloe smirked and reached for one of the few cards she had. "Go help, we can't let them have all the fun," she said. Impmon quickly digivolved to Beelzemon BM and took flight. "Can't hit him with my cannon," he said, "That'll hurt him too much."

UlforceVeedramon and Justimon dodged another blast. "This is getting ridiculous," he said, before suddenly freezing in place. BioCherubimon seemed to smirk before waving his hand vaguely in Justimon's direction, sending UlforceVeedramon into him like a wrecking ball.

"I don't like the looks of that," said Gallantmon, just before he started smacking into Sakuyamon. "Didn't know he could do that," said Sakuyamon. Chloe winced as the gang was bashed together, apparently to the hybrid's amusement. She glared and leveled her blast while her partner attacked. "HIGHLAND FANG!" called DinoTigermon and leapt in the air, her fangs glowing bright. Then two beams of light shot out of them and hit BioCherubimon. "Laugh this off," said Chloe. All the attack did was shift his attention and throw a Lightning Spear at her, which just barely grazed her.

Suddenly he heard a loud whistle and someone saying, "Hey, rabbit ears!" BioCherubimon turned to glare at the newcomer and even under the mindless rage, he took a step back. Standing there was Beelzemon, who was wearing a look that said he was more than ready to kick some butt. "I'm giving ya only one warning," said Beelzemon, "Settle down and let us treat you, or I'm gonna knock you over." Chloe was kneeling by the stunned DinoTigermon, "Ow, he packs a punch," said the stunned Digimon. Chloe looked up and nodded at Beelzemon before running to where Matt put down his weaponry before biomerging. BioCherubimon chuckled, "You think you can defeat me? You don't have your cannon." "I don't need my cannon to beat you," said Beelzemon, "I've got a fiery heart and the strength to match." Suddenly, his right fist was surrounded in light green flames and he yelled, "BEAST WHACK!" The flames shout out as a demonic lion's head and hit BioCherubimon square in the chest.

The punch was enough to break the telepathic hold on the rest of the Megas. "Ow, I hate psychics so much right now," said UlforceVeedramon, getting up. "Is that a normal attack for him?" he asked as Beelzemon lauched another Beast Whack attack. "I think a little bit of Leomon's data still lingers in him," said Justimon, "and he's combining that data with his own demonic powers to give it an extra boost." It was apparently a substantial attack as BioCherubimon was looking pretty tired.

Chloe had finally found the dart gun for the nanites only for it to say, "DNA mismatch, Unauthorized user," in a smug voice. "My brother, king of paranoia," she said in an annoyed voice. "Matt!" yelled Chloe, "Get your blue armored butt down here and use this gun!" "Oh, right," said UlforceVeedramon as he flew down. There was a flash as UlforceVeedramon devolved back to Matt and Veemon, Matt receiving a slap across the back of his head before being shoved the dart gun. "Mad hybrid, shoot, NOW!" yelled Chloe in such a voice that even Leomon took half a step back. Matt whimpered and aimed. "That's beautiful, hold that pose," he said jokingly before firing the dart at BioCherubimon, who turned in time to see the dart sink into his arm.

BioCherubimon let out a loud groan before his data started dissipating about him. Eventually, all that was left was Henry floating in midair. He was about to fall when Beelzemon flew over and caught him. The gang rushed over as Beelzemon landed. "Is he okay?" asked Gallantmon before devolving. "He'll be find after some rest," said Robomon. He turned to Chloe and said, "Gabumon's new Ultimate form is likewise nothing to worry about. It is simply a sign that her system is getting ready to merge with the X-Antibody." Matt nodded, "Good, now all we have to worry about is Kurata and his friendly neighborhood idiots." Chloe suddenly got an idea, "Hey Robomon, are there any cliffs nearby?"

Dante came to, suddenly aware that someone had put his blast visor down. He could feel a breeze though and felt someone holding his wrists. "When I get Lynch, I'll…" he began and nearly screamed when the visor came up to reveal he was being held over a cliff edge. "Like the view?" said Matt. He, Chloe, and Dante were standing behind Dante, Mark stopping Dante from falling by holding onto the links between the cuffs on Dante's wrists.

"Now, you're going to answer a few of our questions," said Matt. "I don't spill my guts so easily," said Dante. Matt nodded at Mark who adjusted his grip so that Dante was now being dangled by his ankle. Dante stammered, "Y-you wouldn't murder me in front of your little friends, would you?" Chloe sneered. "That's why they're standing guard, out of earshot," she said, adding the last part in a sickly sweet way. Dante changed mental gears and pleaded to Mark. "Mark, you're a damn merc, what happened to loyalty to the job?" he said, gibbering now.

"Well, job loyalty's kinda hard when the job in question goes against your scruples," said Mark, "But you don't have to worry about those, do you?" It was hard to tell if Dante's face was going red because of anger or the blood rushing to his head. Chloe leaned over. "Those Digimon look hungry, don't you think?" Dante's face paled just a little bit, "Digimon, what Digimon?" "Oh, just a few Champion and Ultimate levels who are mad about the guys who've been trashing the Digital World," Matt lied casually. In truth there were no Digimon but Dante didn't know that. Dante turned to Chloe. "Look, Ma'am, I haven't done anything to you, call your mates off and lets talk like professionals," he said in a high pitched voice as his imagination supplied the details of what a few angry and hungry Champion levels could do to him.

Chloe simply strutted over and unwrapped one of Mark's fingers from around Dante's ankle, "Saying, this little piggy went to market." She pulled off another finger and said, "This little piggy stayed home." Dante wailed "I KNOW WHERE KURATA IS!!" The three mercs grinned evilly and Matt whispered, "What happened to loyalty to the job?" Dante glared under his mask, "IT CAN GET STUFFED!" "Ok, tell us where we can find Kurata and we'll let you go, safely," said Chloe. She sniffed the air and said, "Incidentally, you may want to change your pants later." Dante gave then everything, from the basic coordinates right down to blueprint files and security codes. "Now, will you let me go?" he said. Matt grinned and said, "Ok." Dante suddenly remembered what he'd read on Matt, how he took things literally just in time for him to tip forward with a yell…to stop so suddenly that his helmet fell off. He was hanging from a grapple cable over a cliff with the sound of Matt's Mark's and Chloe's laughter in his ears. What words from Dante followed next are untranslatable, which is just as well.

**So the gang know where Kurata is hiding. You can bet that the good doctor has some payback in the works…Tune in next time and please R&R!**


	17. Chapter 17

**Digimon, Dr Kurata and digimon tamers is property of Bandai.**

**Nullspace, Matt and Exo-Gene inc are my property. Mark and Robomon are the property of my co-author, Cydra. **

**C.P.S Chronicles: Digital Conspiracy**

**Chapter 17: Arctic Deconstruction**

**Unspecified Location, Digital world**

In a very dark room, three figures were standing around a crystal ball. The ball reflected not their faces, but the face of someone they've been watching for a while. "Can you not feel it?" said Barbamon, "His presence inside that human body has grown stronger." Devimon nodded. "It'll be good to have Belphemon back in the fold...but what of this...NSC...I have not seen much but enough to tell me that if they ever find out before we are ready, that they can stop us." he said and made an image appear, showing the tamers and the three mercs with them, trudging through a snowy landscape. "And there is also the ones the ancients chosen."

Barbamon sneered, "The 'ancient's chosen ones', if they could even be called that, are mere fledglings in terms of power. The only threat they possess is their Digimon partners and their magnetic weapons." Devimon nodded. All the lords could remember when the ancients chosen would have been a threat...these ones were obviosuly...rushed. "And what of the Xarkes shard? Belphemon would be back with us faster if it was destroyed." said Daemon.

"It is already being taken care of," said Devimon, "Kurata's put a geothermal plant in the arctic plain. It'll melt along with the rest of the ice. However, awakening Belphemon will still not be easy." "Indeed," said Barbamon, "from what I can tell, Belphemon's in his Sleep Mode inside Kurata. He'll be of greater use if he is in Rage Mode." He turned to Daemon and said, "I believe rage would be in your jurisdiction."

Daemon smirked. "I have the perfect puppet for that...it seems that not all of Kurata's...help is entirely trustworthy...and betrayal is so good for anger." he said happily, revealing a tiny image of Dante.

**Arctic area, Digital World**

Matt rubbed his cold hands together and again silently thanked the universe for the fact that his combat gear had heating coils. "This storms picking up. If we stay out here, we're icicles." he yelled above the wind, looking down at Veemon, who was definitely suffering the cold. "This is one disadvantage of being a dragon," muttered Veemon, "cold blood." Matt looked around. "I shoulda guessed that Dante wouldn't give us proper coordinates...I'll kill him." he said angrily.

"What kind of Digimon could live in these conditions?" asked Chloe. Suddenly a trio of drills popped out of the ground, attached to the noses of large mole-like Digimon. "Looks like we're about to find out," said Matt. Chloe checked her digivice, "Drimogemon, a Champion level Beast Digimon whose drills on his nose and claws are made for digging. They're also useful for fighting." Matt kept his weapon aimed anyway. ""Ok...you think they're on our team?" he said cautiously.

"Hey, get yer feet of our ground," yelled one of the Drimogemon with a Western accent. "We got plenty enough critters walking over it without more humans," said another. Matt was about to draw attention to his gun when what the digimon had just said penetrated his brain. "What other humans?" he asked

"Them lousy two-footers been digging up our territory," said the first Drimogemon, "We dig it up to, but we don't cause as much damage as they do." The gang all turned to look at the Ex-Exo-gene employee, Mark for answers. "You were probably here more often...did the good doctor mention construction projects?" Chloe asked. "Well, he did mention that he would eventually need more power, more than can be gather from solar energy," said Mark, "but why would anyone build a plant out here?"

Matt shrugged. "If its geothermal...it could go anywhere you could punch safely down…but if you put it in an arctic area it could defrost the whole area." he said, going pale as he finished. He was about to reply to the Drimogemon when a thump got his attention. The cold had finally gotten to Veemon and Guilmon and they'd fallen down. "We'll handle it later." he said before turning to the drimogemon. "Our partners are in real trouble...we need to go somewhere warmer...please." he said, trying to rub some warmth back into Veemons hands.

"Least the damn IceOgremon aren't around...you were lucky yer met us first." said the Head Drimogemon, leading the way towards the spring. Matt carrying Veemon and Chloe and Takato helping Guilmon. Rika was shivering noticeably more than the others. "Rika? Are you okay?" asked Ryo. "Rika has a greater dislike of the cold than most humans," said Renamon, "It stems from when IceDevimon kidnapped her. It scarred her deeply and has yet to recover from it."

Matt nodded. He had a similar fear of being underwater. It had taken close to 6 years just to be able to handle anything short of rain on his face without panicking. "Well...sure its not further." he said, scanning the surrounding snowline in case these 'IceOgremon' decided to pay a visit. Ryo fell back a bit to walk beside Rika. "Don't worry," he said, "We're going to a warm place now. After that you won't be able to mind the cold so much. But you can stay next to me if you feel cold." "Thank you," said Rika, without her usual sarcasm.

Matt looked over at Takato and sighed, shedding his combat armour and throwing it over. "Its got heater coils...should help Guilmon the rest of the way." he said, shivering a bit and cracking on a heater stick to help him and Veemon in a similar way. Terriermon was riding on Henry's shoulders, his ears made a very effective scarf for Henry. "Hey let me up there," said Impmon, "I need some of that warmth." He tried to climb up Henry, which resulted in a brief tumble before all three fell into the snow.

Matt tried to jump aside as the momentum sent the trio along like a sled, too late as it was as he was bowled along down the hill...and head first into a steaming pool. "Hey...Matt found the spring." said Robomon cheerfully as Matt screamed a bit from the sudden temperature change.

Suddenly three Digimon appeared that looked like they were made of chunks of ice. "Are those Gotsumon?" asked Takato. "No, they're the wrong color," said Ryo as he checked his digivice, "They're actually Gotsumon's digivolved form, Icemon. They're masters of making ice and snow."

Matt aimed his gun and fired. Luckily the water had already shorted out the guns clip, causing it to make a whistling noise. Matt was bumped aside as Veemon surfaced. "Ah...thats much better." One of the Icemon said. "Who're you guys? Who said you could take a swim without our permission?" aiming the second question as the gang who were already in the spring.

"They're with us," said the Drimogemon, "they're more likely to attack troublemakers than us." The icemon looked at Matt who was floundering a bit. "You sure? That one looks more likely to hurt himself then anyone else." It was lucky that Matt had been near Henry, impmon, terriermon and Veemon who all had to pile on him to stop him trying to see if it was possible to strangle rocks. Chloe just rolled her eyes at Rika, wearing the expression of all sisters in about every known universe and species that they use when their little or big brothers were being complete embarrassing idiots.

Suddenly the gang noticed what looked like a snow cloud heading their way. When it got closer, they could see that there were several blue ogre-like Digimon inside it. Chloe looked at it. "The IceOgremon?" she asked. Matt checked his Digivice, "Yep, Champion level Ogre Digimon, notriously ruthless and a bully to those who can't stand the cold." Gabumon didn't wait for any signal and leapt out of the water, ready to digivolve.

Matt clicked a dry charge clip into his rifle and concealed it. "Unluckily for them. Me n Chloe hate bullies." Chloe nodded. "But we won't shoot them if they leave peacefully." she said as the first of the IceOgremon arrived and homed in on Matt and Veemon. Leomon stepped in front and said, "I'll handle these ruffians." "Heh, this dumb cat is about get some nasty frostbite," said an IceOgremon, "THROWING ICE!"

Leomon dodged the shot which landed between Veemon and Matt. Another of the IceOgremon was about to do a sucker punch when two blasts hit it dead centre, electrical energy playing over the digimon till it vanished, collapsing like dust and leaving a surprised looking Goblimon. Matt was smirking. "Play fair or you get fired." he said.

"Guys, I think we have trouble," said Veemon, pointing at several more snow clouds that were approaching. "Time to digivolve," said Chole, pulling out a card. Matt also pulled out a card, swiping it before kneeling down and firing a few more bursts into the cloud. "These guys are morons...can't they take the hint?" he said, firing more of the devolution bursts. It wouldn't be long before he and Chloe would be forced to put the guns at full charge and vaporise a few.

Suddenly they heard a sound that sounded a lot like an elephant trumpeting. Suddenly a small herd of large digimon resembling woolly mammoths appeared, Dark Rings wrapped around their trunks.

"Ah nuts...get the feeling that these IceOgremon weren't here just to bully us?" Matt said. Chloe nodded and it was confirmed as one of the Ogremon threw what looked like a NSC concussion orb. She used her gun like a baseball bat, sending it back to its thrower, knocking the Digimon clean out. "Dammit...the good doctors hiring again." she yelled as Garurumon and Flamedramon harried a Mammothmon. Growlmon was grappling with another one while an IceOgremon sneaked up. Matt swivelled and shot point black as full charge. The digimon looked confused before collapsing into a pile of data.

"I think we'll need to level up," called Garurumon. Chloe nodded and slashed a Blue Card through. DinoTigermon turned out to be much better than SkullBaluchimon when it came to arctic warfare as she was able to speed across the snow and ice and still tackle a Mammothmon onto its side before using her fangs to break the Dark Ring.

Matt did the same, digivolving Flamedramon to Paildramon who used his desperado blaster on more of the dark rings. Matt was reloading his rifle when a thump behind him got his attention. An IceOgremon had landed behind him, smirking evilly. Matt, forgetting his gun was dry aimed. "Laugh this off, smily." he said and winced as the gun simply whistled...empty.

"Matt!" called Leomon, who was closest, and he was suddenly surrounded by bright light. When the light cleared, Leomon's fur had changed to a snowy white and the gems on his necklace were now made of blue ice. "FROZEN HUNTER!" yelled Leomon, blasting the IceOgremon over Matt's head. "DUDE...THAT MUST HAVE BEEN 20 FEET!" yelled Matt, happily, clicking the new clip in and blasting another of the IceOgremon who had been sneaking up. The others looked like they were getting the hint, especially as the freed Mammothmon were joining in now.

The IceOgremon saw the tide of battle turning against them and started running away. The gang provided a few attacks to their backsides to help prompt them into increasing their speed. "AND DON'T COME BACK!" Matt yelled before turning to see the knocked out IceOgremon coming round and noticing that he was very much alone. "And now, we'll find out how these guys get NSC military gear." Mark said.

Gargomon looked over at 'Leomon' and said, "Nice new look, Leomon." "Actually, he's IceLeomon," said Rika, looking at her digivice, "He's Leomon's Ultimate form. His attacks may chill you to the bone, but he still has a fiery heart." Matt was not looking though, he and Paildramon looking at their prisoner. "Now then...I'm not in a good mood...and you saw what my rifle does to you...so...where did you get the grenades? Crashsite? Raided an outpost full of humans?" he said cheerfully.

"This human and his pals gave them to us!" cried out the IceOgremon, "He said that if we keep people out, we get this territory all to ourselves!" Matt fired a shot at the rock that the digimon was leaning on, vaporising it. "A name please...or you go to the great big server in the sky...comprende?" said Matt. His shot had just got the others attention at his impromptu interrogation.

"Dante! Dante! The guy's name was Dante! He wanted to keep other Digimon away from the plant!" screamed IceOgremon, looking ready to soil his shorts. Matt glared at him. "And why did you attack us? Make the answer very good..." he said, sighting at the IceOgremon and saying "...Because I really hate bullies."

"Well, we kinda thought we could use the weapons he gave us so we could have the hot spring all to ourselves," whimpered the IceOgremon. Matts expression indicated that this was not the right answer. "So...charge digimon for possibly lifesaving dips in the spring? Wrong answer. Farewell." he said and was about to fire when someone pulled his rifle out his hands.

IceLeomon glared down at Matt while the rifle in his hand became coated in ice. "This is not the warrior's way," he said, "What this creature did was wrong, but execution is not what he deserves. Banishment is a far more fitting punishment for him and his ilk." Matt glared at him then back at the IceOgremon. "Get lost...if I ever hear you or your little buddies were near here again, I'll make sure I'm the last thing you ever see...get me?" he said.

The IceOgremon nodded vigorously and started running as fast as he can away from the spring. DinoTigermon de-digivolved to Gabumon and said, "Well, I say we take one last dip in the spring before we-" Suddenly she seized up and her data started shimmering maddly. Then she got surrounded by rainbow-colored light. "Her data's reformatting to the X-Antibody!" called Robomon. Matt grabbed Chloe as she started towards her partner. "No...you might get hurt and we know she'll be fine." he said. Chloe just glared at her brother.

Almost as soon as it started, it ended. She was still Gabumon, but her body had taken on a much different look. Her pelt was now blue and was longer. There were less stripes and they were a darker blue. The pelt only covered one arm and it had long silver claws on it. The marking on her belly was a simpler design and the body underneath the pelt had a more canine appearance, such as a black nose, comparatively longer legs, and a bushy tail that looked a lot more flexible than before.

Chloe shook herself free of Matt and ran up. "Gabumon...are you ok?" she said, frantically trying to pull a med pack out. "I'm fine," said Gabumon, her voice sounding only slightly deeper than before, "In fact, I feel stronger than before." Chloe just hugger her partner closely.

--

**Geothermal plant 06, Arctic region.**

Dante tried to light a cigarette and swore as it was blown out his hands. "I don't believe this...why in hell was I sent to the butt end of nowhere to overlook this...lego project?" he said to himself, looking at the containers full of construction equipment swarming the crater where they had been told to set up the plant. His deputy sighed. "I don't get it either. There isn't even a geothermal vent here." he said to Dante.

"Actually, since there's a hot spring in the area, it is highly likely we'll find a thermal vent we can tap into," said Dante. The deputy nodded. "The military gear finally arrived from CPS Headquarters, sir...including 'Viper'." he said, reading off a PDA. The deputy saluted. "Sensors also detected EMP rifle fire two clicks south." he said. Dante smirked. "Double the guard...and make sure the digimon we met aren't able to...talk." he said. The deputy saluted and talked into his radio. Dante also smirked coldly. "Now my mechs here, Mr Lynch...I make the rules."

--

**Spring, Arctic Region**

The gang had settled down as it was getting dark. The area around the spring was actually quite warm. Matt and Mark were trying to work out why Kurata was building nearby. "I have a feeling that Kurata's after something more than just thermal energy here," said Matt, "But what exists here that can be of value to a guy like him?" "Perhaps it is the Xarkes," said a Monjyamon who walking by.

Matt and Mark turned. "The what?" Matt said. The others also turned, interested. Veemon said. "That? Thats just a story elecmon told us." "How does it go?" asked Mark. "It's just a piece of ice, it supposed to have something to do with hibernation, it's kinda vague." Monjyamon said. "It's more then that. It holds one of the demon lords in check. Belphemon." At the name, all the digimon except Guilmon winced.

"What's a Belphemon?" asked Guilmon. "Belphemon's the Demon Lord of Sloth," said Leomon, "Legends has it he awakens only once every millenium and goes on an unstoppable rampage of destruction." Matt gulped. "And this icicle keeps him in sleepyland? and I'm guessing melting this icicle will be like sounding a gong next to his head." he said. Renamon nodded.

"Didn't you say that a thermal plant will soften all the ice on this plain?" asked Henry to Matt. Matt nodded then paused. "Oh hell." he said as the thought process came to a conclusion. He sighed. "Well...its only been a few days since we had to fight Exo-Gene...we're probably overdue anyhow." he said sarcastically.

"Ok, so now we have to find this thermal plant and level it before Belphemon's sleeping pill expires," said Chloe and added as an afterthought, "As well as keep this plain from becoming an ocean." Matt nodded. "Its what mercs do best...tactical demolition." he said happily. Chloe just sighed. "Brothers."

--

The gang were walking through the snow. Veemons and Guilmons dip in the spring was apparently still in effect as they seemed to barely feel the cold. "Ok...guess that IceOgremon was lying...if I ever meet him again, I'll...wow." he said as he climbed a ridge and stopped.

The other side of the ridge was a hive of activity. Robotic construction droids went back and forth, checking piping that went deep into the ground. Several steel warehouse-like structures sat, obviously storage and living quarters and alot of troopers in armour patrolled the perimeter alongside several turrets. "Security looks tough," said Rika, "Sneaking in's going to be difficult at best."

"Impossible...those quad turrets are motion triggered...oh hell." he said. Several IceOgremon were heading towards the facility. Matt saw a goblimon among them. It was the ones from earlier. A familiar figure, flamked by two of the guards walked towards them. "DANTE!" said Matt, glaring.

--

Dante looked at the digimon. "Why are you failures here? I hear you ran into some humans...and lost...tell me why." He said. "They had Digimon partners and powerful weapons," said an IceOgremon. "And then they broke the Mammothmon's Dark Rings," said another IceOgremon. Dante smirked as he saw the Goblimon. "You ran into people with EMP rifles....and I bet you want us to help you...correct?"

"We want bigger guns," said an IceOgremon that Matt recognized as the one he'd interrogated, "and we want a team to take care of that guy who nearly blasted me." Matt winced at that. "Oh no." he said. Dante's glare went as cold as the region. "What? You DEMAND?" he said before turning to walk back into the compound. "Kill them all." he said casually. The guards nodded and began shooting at the digimon ruthlessly. In less then a minute it was over.

A fair number of the group looked like they were going to be sick. "Ok, sneaking in is not an option," said Matt, "and we cannot expect any cooperation with these guys. I move for an all-out attack." Chloe looked over. "They have elite armour...OUR companies elite armour." she said. "How in hell will we get in there without being chewed up by those guns?...you wouldn't." she said as Matt smirked.

--

The guards were leaning against the fence when one of them looked over and saw a teenager wandering through the snow. "Help." he called. The three guards smirked and started after the kid, following him round the corner. If the wind had not been so strong a person would have heard three 'clunks' and the sounds of some bodies hitting the snow.

--

"...maybe they just went for a smoke?" said one of the guard relief team. "Never mind...there they are...cool, they got prisoners...double bounty." said his partner as the three troopers came into view, walking jerkily, like rookies in their first power armour. "Whatcha got there?" asked one of the guards. "Some of those annoying kids the boss was looking for," said one of the troopers.

"What about their digimon...and the mercs?" said the guard as he compared alert pictures. The trooper said. "The mercs and the digimon are toast." The guard shrugged. "Fine...your shifts over anyway...get rid of em then...no prisoners...remember?" One of the other guards noticed another merc was looking with interest at the turret generator. "Hey...you listening, sergeant?" The trooper shrugged. "That powers all the turrets?" he said. The guard got angry at that. Of course it does...HEY, NO!" he yelled as the trooper fired his laser rifle into the generator, blowing it up. At that the turrets all shuddered and drooped as their power cut off.

"Hey! What's the big i- OOF!" Suddenly the guard got tackled by what resembled a large wolf with light blue fur, metal bangles on its legs, and six metal spikes coming out of its back. The other guard yelled "INTRUDERS!" until Rika kicked him in a sore place...a very sore place. Mark, pulled his helmet off. "Ouch...remind me never to fight you." he said. Several dozen more troopers ran out of the huts, Dante however turned and ran for the largest of the buildings. "Hey, Date...where you goin?" yelled Matt, running after him and taking pot shots. Paildramon yelled after him. "MATT...WAIT!"

--

Meanwhile, Matt had reached the building and was trying to open the door. "C'mon...I only wanna play." he yelled, grinning like a loon. The grin alone had already caused two of the exo-gene troopers to run away at one look.

Matt blasted the lock off and kicked it open to see a red line...like a...oh no. He turned to run and was thrown a good 10 feet backwards as the front of the building literally exploded and a four legged robot marched out. Dante's voice came from it on loudspeakers. "Not so tough without your little freak...eh?"

Suddenly another metallic being appeared, but it wasn't a robot, it was a dragon wearing knight's armor. "It's not very sporty to attack an opponent when he's down," said Slayerdramon. "That's the best time to attack him," retorted Dante and aimed his weapons at Slayerdramon. With that the mech let loose with more or less everything, releasing things from missiles, to tracer rounds from the huge machineguns on its arms. Slayerdramon wiped the smoke away, the majority of the missiles had missed. "Your aim is as bad as your morals, human." said Slayerdramon. "Who said I was aiming at you, freak?" said Dante, as the half built and now highly unstable geothermal reactor behind Slayerdramon exploded violently.

Meanwhile, Matt was starting to come back around. He opened his eyes and the first thing he saw was a pair of boots. He followed the boots upward and muttered, "Oh, smeg," as the sight of Don grinning down at him. "Hey there, Lynch...not so tough now, eh?" said the merc. "You shot our bud, Mark...I thought you'd have the damn sense to bug out." he said, aiming his blaster between Matt's eyes. "Oh well...See ya dude. I'd lie if I said it had been fun."

"Goodbye head," said Don. Matt grabbed his wrist and said, "Hello balls!" He aimed a quick kick to Don's crotch, which sent him down in a fetal position, making sounds like a fish out of water. Matt took the opportunity to skedaddle. Then Steve came over and said, "Don, what happened?" Don looked up and said in a squeaky voice, "Get the men, get the guns, get the sleds." Steve was about to leave when Don added, "Get me an ice pack. Hurry!"

Meanwhile, Dante seemed to be having plenty of fun by himself. The Viper model of assault mech had been designed for extremely heavy enemy firepower and digimon were just as easy in his book. The swift mech jumped a shot from WarGrowlmon and fired a cluster of rockets in cyberdramons direction. Cyberdramon jumped the missiles which hit the floor, revealing some kind of chamber. At that, Dante's computer beeped. "Secondary target detected...destroy." it chimed, showing an ice obelisk. "What? ah well, Kurata pays my paycheck." he said and fired a few more rockets down before making his mech kick IceLeomon into a snowdrift.

Before Dante could fire, another Digimon jumped in front of him. This one resembled an anthropomorphic wolf wearing leather pants and a jacket as well as having metal claws. "Out of my way furball," said Dante before swatting WereGarurumon X aside. "WereGarurumon!" cried Chloe and ran to her fallen partner.

WareGarurumon x shrunk down to her rookie form as Chloe ran up. "Thank god...you are extremely lucky..." she began but was cut off as Dante said. "…and YOU are really dumb." he said before blasting a pile of snow over them before turning back to face Slayerdramon and the tamers digimon. "One down, 6 to go...this is really my day." he said laughing insanely.

SuperComputemon tried to fire a Brain Scrambler attack at Dante, but Dante sent another missile that shot the Machine Digimon into the air, digivolving it back to Robomon. Robomon landed on Matt's abandoned armor, causing him to scan it on reflex.

"Now then...lets play a game, buddies." he said, locking onto the tamers heat signatures. "It's called 'save the tamers'..." he began, not noticing the glow in the snowdrift behind his mech. Suddenly there was an explosion of light that nearly knocked Dante's mech over. "What the blazes..." he said. Hovering in the air behind him was a mechanized anthropomorphic wolf that looked like it had an entire armory attached to it. "MetalGarurumon X!" called the Digimon with both Chloe and Gabumon's voices.

"Try target practise." began Dante, firing a cluster of missiles in the newcomers direction. MetalGarurumon X simply shot the missiles out the air or dodged them. "My turn." she said, aiming and yelling "METAL STORM!" firing the gattling gun on her left arm. The rounds ripped into Dante's mech, knocking the shoulder laser clean off. "Oh...the pooch wants to play." snarled Dante, firing the machineguns.

The bullets bounced off MetalGarurumon X like it was rain. "That all you got?" said MetalGarurumon X. Dante glared and fired more of the missiles, this time aiming at the digimons feet to blind her with the spray from the blasts. "It's been fun, but I've got a job to do," said Dante as he aimed at the obelisk.

The gang could only watch as a second salvo of rockets shot down into the chamber, blasting the Obelisk to pieces. MetalGarurumon X cleared the snow away and glared. "You're not getting away, Dante." she said before yelling "GARURU BLAST!" every weapon on her firing in a solid wall. Dante swore and just managed to jump out before his mech was literally ripped apart. He fell down and spotted Matt and Mark aiming at him. Only more of his luck avoided him being blasted. "Hey Dante...where were we?" yelled Matt. Dante ducked behind a wall to find that Don and Steve were already there, trying to de-ice their digivices so they could turn hybrid. "Get out there, you wusses." he yelled, pushing the two mercs out into Mark and Matt's view.

"Oh look, the circus is in town," said Matt, "So are these guys the clowns or the sideshow freaks?" Don stared, spotting Mark. "Boss? We heard you were dead." he said, he and Steve ignoring Matt. "You wouldn't have happened to hear that from Kurata, would you?" said Mark. The two of them looked hesitant to answer. "I thought as much."

Don looked extremely upset. "That little weasel...I'll wring his neck." he said. Steve looked equally grim but sounded calmer when he said. "So...how'd you end up with the kid?" he said jerking a thumb at Matt. "Actually, it was more like me ending up with him," said Mark, pointing a thumb at Robomon who was walking towards in a non-straight line.

Matt and Mark both stared at the digimon. "Er...you ok, Robomon?" said Matt as Don was the first to catch on. "Hey...isn't that the project from the Tokyo lab...you stole it?" he said to Mark. "I like to think of it as either salvaging or rescuing," said Mark. Matt nodded. "...or both at the same time...so...wanna join the 'shoot Dr Kurata' club?" he said cheekily.

"Well," said Steve hesitantly, "Kurata's a major pain, but he does pay, then there's the thought of hanging around with you guys, which does not sound appealing, but then again..." Steve's pondering was brought to an end when Dante stumbled over. Dante managed to blither. "Well done...you caught em...well...shoot em. What the smeg are you waiting for?" Matt and Mark both started smirking as IceLeomon dug himself out of the snow behind Dante.

"You look awful," said Matt, "Why don't you chill out for a while?" Before Dante could ask what he meant, IceLeomon breathed super cold breath on him which froze him in an ice cube. Matt walked over. "Its so tempting...just to push him over and sweep whats left away." he said then spotted IceLeomons stare. "But I won't...there's enough ice around here already. Now lets go see what he dug up." Matt left Don, Steve and Mark talking and walked over with Iceleomon towards the hole. MetalGarurumon X was still there, standing near the hole and looking down. "Lookin good, sis!" called Matt.

"Well, the view inside's not much," said Chloe's voice, "just glowing lavender data. Wish I had my clothes in here. But I can't complain about the outside." She turned around asked, "Does this armor make my butt look big?" Matt's face went neutral and he just gibbered, his brain unable to find an answer that wouldn't embarrass himself. Paildramon muttered. "You asked that on purpose...didn't you?"

"Maybe, maybe not, how about you Mark?" Mark looked at Chloe and said, "Nah, it doesn't affect it at all, kinda flatters it-" Then Robomon noticed something, "Sir, why is the data filter on your helmet on?" Matt had managed to score a good rating on instinct premonition which was just as well. People who didn't know him woulda been impressed at the speed he had moved to a pile of construction equipment...6 metres away.

Matt, who had been standing a centimetre from where Mark went by, got up very stiffly and walked along the trench Mark had dug, passing the steel wall he'd gone through and the solid ice on the way. He poked Mark who was in a foot deep imprint in solid metal. "Shoulda warned you...ah well, you needed a sleep anyway." he said and wandered back to the hole and peered down. He spotted something and gulped. "Hey...IceLeomon...what does the Xarkes shard look like?"

"It should resemble a great obelisk made of ice," said IceLeomon. "Ok, would it still work if it was half a great obelisk made of ice?" asked Matt nervously. "What?!" cried the Beast Digimon and ran over to where Matt was standing. The top half of the obelisk in the chamber had been shattered by Dante's rockets. The other half stood, looking like it had been hit by a wrecking ball, covered in cracks. "I'm guessing this is bad." said Matt.

**Exo-Gene facility, Digital World**

Kurata looked at the field report from the power plant. So the facility was lost...the real target was now so much ice cubes. He was smiling to himself when the door burst open and his bodyguard fell through, quite dead. Don and Steve strolled through behind him. "Hey there, Frankenstein...we came to resign." said Steve. Don who was smirking, pulled out his pistol and aimed at Kurata. "Just gotta punch out. See you in hell."

"If you two are trying to do something rash and stupid, I highly suggest not doing so," said Kurata. "Ooh, how threatening," said Steve sarcastically. "You forget, we're the one with Digimon powers, not you," said Don.

Don fired several pulses into Kurata's chest. In theory it should have painted the good doctor on the wall behind him. Instead, Kurata just grinned. Suddenly a wave of energy shot out from the good doctor, knocking the mercs into the wall like they'd been hit by a freight train. "What the hell are you?" Don said shakily, looking at Steve who had hit the wall harder and was definitely dead...no living persons head twisted that way.

Kurata started laughing. And as he laughed, the shadow behind him shifted shapes, becoming large, muscular, and demonic. "Kurata?" asked Don weakly. The deep voice rumbled again, "There is no Kurata, only Belphemon." Suddenly fiery chains appeared out of nowhere and started wrapping around Don.

**A minute later...**

Security burst into Kurata's office. A strange shadow was burnt into the wall where Don had been and the merc known as Steve was dead in a corner. "Sir? What happened?" Kurata smiled coldly. "Nothing...they just gave in their notice."

**So kurata's…other side is starting to wake up and one of the artifacts holding him in check is is destroyed…here's hoping the gang can stop him soon. Tune in next time…**


	18. Chapter 18

**Digimon, Dr Kurata and digimon tamers is property of Bandai.**

**Nullspace, Matt and Exo-Gene inc are my property. Mark and Robomon are the property of my co-author, Cydra. **

**C.P.S Chronicles: Digital Conspiracy**

**Chapter 18: Hot Tempers**

Endra rubbed her beak and looked around. She was in some kind of desert, a clearly active volcano nearby. "Ok...this is new," she said. The last thing she remembered was telling some cyborg to smeg off when he'd requested she return back to the mess Exo-Gene had caused. "So, is this some kind of dream?" asked Endra to no one in particular. "No, it is not a dream," answered a voice, "but it's not quite real either." Endra turned to see the same cyborg she'd been insulting. "You? I don't care if you slipped hallucinogens in my drink, I'm not going anywhere near that Psycho Kurata. It's enough the NSC showed enough interest," she began.

"I did not put anything in your drink," said the cyborg, "Perhaps things will be more negotiable if you realize whom you're speaking to." A cloak of tiny computer screens surrounded the cyborg, giving it a phantom look.

Endra backed up. "Oh shit...about the cyborg comment, no offence?" she said. Just her luck to insult an Ancient. "I realize the lack of significance on the comment," said Cydra, "Unlike my 'brethren', I rarely take heed of insults to my guises." "So...I get to live?" said Endra before going back to her previous tone of voice. "So, where did you send me? Looks like a Z class dimension." "If it were a Z class, you'd hardly be able to breathe," pointed out Cydra, "This is a dimension referred to as the Digital World. It and its inhabitants are completely comprised of data, including you at the moment." Endra looked around. "You mean where Kurata was getting his test subjects? I'm dead meat," she said. She had no doubt that any Digimon with all its marbles would kill her on sight after how every other merc so far had either kidnapped or killed them

"Well, technically, you'd be de-rezzed, but that's not the point. Your survival here mostly depends on your fighting skills. And I have not sent you here to your certain doom. You're here to meet up with a group you've met before, albeit it was slightly smaller." Endra glared. "What's the job?" she said, leaning against what she thought was a pillar of rock and striking a flare on it. "Guarding the object you just struck a match on from destruction," said Cydra, gesturing his hand at what Endra could now see was an obelisk. Endra whistled. "You'd just better pay up," she said.

Meanwhile, the gang was warming up at the spring while they considered their next plan. Well, the humans mostly, the Digimon were mostly concentrated on a splash fight Impmon started.

"So, Leomon, I feel that our little trip to that power plant was pointless," Matt muttered gloomily, throwing a slushball into the pool. The group was not in high spirits following the disastrous attempt to save the Xarxes shard. "Not completely," said Leomon, "If those humans were allowed to continue constructing that plant, they would have caused collosal damage to the environment. Plus, Chloe and her partner have learned to biomerge." "But what's the use if some uber-demon eats our faces cause we let his prison lock get busted?" Matt said. "That's not entirely true," said Leomon, "Legend tells that two obelisks keep Belphemon in slumber, one in ice and one in fire." Matt looked up,"Doesn't that birdy thing that brainwashed Rika live in a volcano region? I'm betting the obelisk is there and a good thing too. They'd need a nuke to get past Zhuqiaomon from what I've heard."

Meanwhile...

Dante waited outside Kurata's office. The doctor had a special mission for him. Presently, the doctor saw him in. "Dante, I have heard of a certain artifact in the digital world that could be used as a potential weapon against us," said Kurata, "I want you and a squad to go find it and destroy it." Dante looked at the scorch marks in the wall that were still unrepaired. He'd heard a rumour that the marks were all that was left of Marks old teammates. He shuddered before looking back. "Where's the target?" he said. "It's in the volcanic plain," said Kurata, "You might require heavy fire power to demolish it, so you'll be taking a larger variation of the EMP bomb." "How large?" asked Kurata, "About the equvilant of a nuclear bomb," replied Kurata, "don't worry, I've designed special suits that will protect your squad from the blast since they'll be data in there."

Dante looked worried. "Sir, the collateral damage would be extreme. I could handle this with my own men easily," he said. In truth, he considered the bomb a good idea was it not that hundreds of civilian targets would be killed. Mercenaries had standards after all. "Do I look like I care?" snapped Kurata, "Those monsters are nothing but trouble. If you're too squeamish to do the job yourself, perhaps I should assign someone with more courage to do the job." Dante clenched his fists. "That's not necessary. We'll deliver your bomb," he said and walked out.

Commander Kar-Tai walked in as he left. "I have bad news, doctor. One of your human staff may have betrayed the lab's position. Our scout ships say an NSC fleet is en route and will arrive in a matter of days." "What? Who would have the gumption to do such a thing?" demanded Kurata. "I believe it was the man that just left this room," said Kar-Tai, "I may be wrong, of course." Kurata pondered for a minute then said, "Wait until he returns from the mission, then kill him."

Elsewhere, Ryo had led the gang to another portal. He could only think of one area that would match the description of the other obelisk's hiding place. When Matt came through, he thought they were in the desert plain again. That is until he saw the clouds of ash in the sky as well as a river of molten lava. "Lovely place, just needs a few class Z warning beacons," he said sarcastically. Veemon looked around. "It doesn't look that bad," he said. "You wouldn't be saying that if you took a bath in that stuff," said Impmon, "Probably not if you're Flamedramon, but not likely as you are."

Matt being Matt, spat over an edge and listened till he heard the hiss. Chloe just rolled her eyes. "Let's just concentrate on getting the job done. Who's in charge of this region? We should warn them that they're about to have a visiting assault force." "Zhuqiaomon has been known to visit this plain from time to time, though he normally stays on the Sovereigns' plain," said Cyberdramon.

Suddenly a Digimon crawled out of the lava stream. It resembled an overgrown salamander with its skin on fire, flame patterns on its back, and a stitched-up mouth. "Halt!" it called, "Who goes there?" "The fire brigade," replied Matt sarcastically. Veemon kicked him on the foot while Chloe said, "We're looking for something called the..." she stopped as she tried to remember what Leomon had called it, "...The Magma Shard." Henry checked his Digivice, "Careful Matt, this is Salamandermon. He may be a Champion level Amphibian Digimon, but he really likes it hot and he's got a temper to match." "He can't be worse then the CPS heads. Those guys are real hotheads," joked Matt. Salamandermon didn't seem amused but Veemon pushed him aside. "Don't mind my partner. He got kicked by a giant robot last night."

Salamandermon glared at them and said, "The Magma Shard is a sacred artifact that shouldn't be touched by clumsy human hands." Matt glared. "Watch who you're calling clumsy, ya walking fireball," he said. The universe obviously had a sense of humour as at that moment, Matt's gun fell out its holster and shot him in the foot. Chloe sighed and went to help her brother while Takato spoke to Salamandermon, "Listen, there's bound to be a bad group coming that will want to destroy the Magma Shard. We just want to warn whoever's guarding it so they could enhance whatever protection's around it." "Hmph! As long as it's 'look-don't-touch', I don't suppose it's not unreasonable for you to speak with its guardian. But don't try to do anything funny or you'll find that lava isn't the fastest method of incineration," said Salamandermon and then jumped back into the lava. Matt stuck his tongue out and looked around. "Who the hell does he and his boss think they are? It's a free multiverse." "Kinda wish Slayerdramon stayed though," said Ryo, "We could use a little more help for this before we're done."

The gang walked through the fiery landscape in the direction that the Magma Shard lay in. They were surprised to see Hawkmon on the way. "What brings you to fire hazard land?" said Matt, happy to see a friendly face. "Just heading over to where the other Bird Digimon are hanging out," said Hawkmon, "although all I've seen in this place so far are Reptile Digimon." The gang had wandered into a canyon as they talked. Matt shrugged, "We've met one, guess he works for the boss around here. Gave us our marching orders..." he said and stopped. A laser sight had shone on his arm. "Ok, drop the piece, merc." said a familiar voice.

"Ok, I know we don't look like it, but we're here to..." Matt turned and was surprised to see a female anthro hawk pointing a blaster at him. "Um, have we met?" he asked. The anthro stared in equal shock. "Oh great, he got you too?" Chloe looked at the anthro, "Who the hell are you, big bird?" The anthro smirked and said. "These guys know me...at least briefly. My name's Endra." "Endra?" said Matt, his mind instantly recalling the last time he'd been involved with her, "Weren't you the one who helped us with Reapermon?" "That's right," said Endra, nodding. Unfortunately, Impmon recalled the other reason Endra was memorable, "Hey, ain't ya Matt's girlfriend who left him a love note?" Matt spun on Impmon. "Why you little..." he began and grabbed Impmon round the throat. It took Chloe, Takato and Veemon a full 5 minutes to stop him choking Impmon.

As soon as Impmon was safely out of Matt's range, Chloe smiled at Endra and said, "So, you find my brother attractive do you? Can't be for his suaveness." Matt turned, half considering attacking Chloe then got second, third and fourth thoughts and decided not to. Endra grinned. "I dunno, I like his style, he has luck, anyone else would have been vaporized long ago with his strategy," she said getting a 'HEY!' from Matt. "He does have a lot of luck in survival," said Chloe, "but this is the first time he's had luck with the opposite sex."

Matt glared. "I can see I'm among friends here," he said darkly, walking off around the corner. Endra shrugged. "Well, Cydra said I may get a bit of help, protection target's this way," she said, leading along the same path Matt had taken. "Cydra sent you here to?" asked Chloe. "Not so much send as brought me here," said Endra, "I was a bit iffy about it, but I think it'll be easier now." There was a 'ca-chunk' from up ahead and Matt came back, walking slowly backwards, a small droid with tank treads and miniguns for arms following him. "Ah hell, forgot to warn him about the sentry droids," said Endra, clicking a remote that made the droid power down. "Where'd you get these things?" asked Mark. Endra shrugged. "Cydra gave em...said I'd find them useful." Matt poked the droid and looked at the miniguns. "I can see that..." he said weakly. Endra led the way. Two more of the droids were sitting next to a ruby obelisk. "I think you broke Salamandermon's 'no touching' rule," said Matt, noticing a landmine mode spiderbot staring from a hole in the wall.

"I'm pretty sure that rule only applys if you're touching it with your bare skin," said Terriermon. "Like this?" asked Guilmon as he put his paw on the obelisk. Suddenly a loud voice yelled "INFEDELS!!!" Matt didn't even bother to turn. "Morning, fireball breath. You only said humans could not touch," he said and had to duck a fireball. Salamandermon obviously didn't take the excuse. "The Magma Shard is not to be disturbed," growled the Amphibian Digimon, "You will awaken its guardian!" "What? You're not that terrible," said Mark.

Suddenly the ground rumbled and all attention was turned towards a large nearby lava pit. Out from the molten rock emerged an enormous dragon-like Digimon with an igneous hide that had red cracks running throughout. Four large spouts on its back were releasing a lot of smoke. "Guys, back up," said Ryo as he checked his Digivice, "That's Volcdramon, a Mega level Dragon Digimon. He lives in the magma in the digital world and has extremely fiery attacks." Volcdramon lowered its head a few feet away from Guilmon and said, "Please don't touch. We don't want it to get damaged." Matt just stared. "For a guardian, he's very polite," he said simply. The huge dragon type looked at the humans in surprise. "I never expected that Zhuqiaomon would let humans into his realm," he said before spotting Veemon. "Little one, I was wondering what had became of you," he said. "You know him?" asked Matt. "He wondered into this plain when he was young and I saw that he got out safely. But it appears you've adapted to fire since then," said Volcdramon. Matt raised and eyebrow and said. "How could you tell...never mind...dumb question."

Salamandermon stared. "These humans had the audacity to touch the obelisk, aren't they to be punished?" Volcdramon looked thoughtful and said, "Alright then, two of them will have to go see Zhuqiaomon." He looked indecisive and pointed at Matt, saying, "You, because you seem to be the leader," then he pointed at Rika and said, "And you, because Zhuqiaomon has been wanting to see you about something." Matt gulped. "Come on, Veemon, time to go see the boss," he said, spotting Salamandermon's face. The Digimon looked smug. "And what's so funny?" he asked. "You think you will return to tell of what you did?" said Salamandermon, "The only way you'll return is if the wind blows your ashes in this direction." "Remind me to get some asbestos boots so I can kick him next time," said Matt to Rika. Rika nodded as the two headed out.

--

On a ridge, overlooking the Obelisk cave, a pair of battle armoured figures had watched the arrivals through binoculars. One of them walked over to where a dozen others were setting up an hourglass-shaped device the size of a water tank. "Captain Dante, two of those tamers are on the move, no sign they know we're here though." Dante nodded. He was only setting up the bomb as a last resort. He was planning to storm the cave on foot and the bomb was if the attack went south. His men were armed with the newest version of the EM rifles Matt and Chloe had. "Fine, keep everything out of sight until we're ready," said Dante, "We'll catch them by surprise and destroy that rock before they recover." "Yes sir," said the trooper and ran back to his lookout position.

--

Matt shook the dizzy feeling aside as he came out of the portal and looked up at the volcano. Up close it was quite impressive. He looked back to see Veemon looking more then a bit nervous. "Hey, don't worry, any decent guy can see we're here to help," he said, genuinely believing it. "Zhuqiaomon isn't what most people would consider decent," said Rika. "He's the only Sovereign of the Virus Attribute," said Renamon, who had accompanied her tamer, "He may not be evil, but he is very harsh and does not have total control over his temper." Matt gulped as they headed into the huge cave that the sovereign called home.

Matt heard the clip-clopping of hooves and suddenly he saw two Digimon, one that resembled a purple horse standing on its hind legs and one resembling a kind of sheep centaur with large horns. They were soon followed by a large white cobra-like Digimon. "Oh, look. Its tweedle dumb and tweedle dumber," said Matt, remembering about how Rika had been brainwashed. Sandiramon hissed and said, "You'd be careful what you say here, human. This is the home of the Vermillion Bird of the South. Insolence shall not be tolerated without pain." Matt glared. "That's a coincidence cause I don't tolerate kidnapping idiots. Get out my way before I shoot you," he said, aiming his EM rifle. A loud bird-like shriek went through the air. Indramon twitched his ears and said, "You are fortunate that the Sovereign wants to see you now. Do not treat his hospitality lightly." "Horse-face," muttered Matt under his breath as he and the others followed the Devas.

As they walked along, Matt was thinking. "Hey, how come those Deva's are still breathing if you nuked em?" he asked. "These Devas aren't exactly the same as the ones we fought before," said Renamon, "The Sovereigns recreated them, only now their servitude is divided among them: three Devas to each Sovereign." "The snake, the horse, and the sheep are on the southern part of the zodiac wheel," said Rika, "That's probably why these guys serve Zhuqiaomon. Might have something to do with the fact they're Virus Digimon too." Matt nodded as they emerged into a huge cave with a lava pool in the centre. "So, where's Mr Z?" Matt said, looking around. "Erm...Matt?" said Veemon, looking up. Matt did the same. "Oh...smeg," he said in awe.

Hovering over them was one of the largest Digimon Matt had seen yet. It resembled a large red bird with a long beak. Six pairs of wings were folded along its side, allowing Matt to see the jet engine on its back. Its legs also had wing feathers on them, making it seem like it had only wings. Twelve red orbs floated around it as it glared down with its four red eyes. "Well...Mr giant Sovereign person," he said, forgetting what he'd planned to say. Zhuqiaomon however didn't pay attention to him or Veemon for that moment, instead focusing on Rika with the look one might give a traitor. Rika glared back at him, undaunted by his majesty. "Don't expect to grovel," she said, "I didn't volunteer to work for you to begin with. You should be the one who has to apologize." The red aura around Zhuqiaomon flared and Matt had to raise hands in front of his face to shield himself from the heat and light. "Apologize?" snapped the Sovereign, "Why should a mighty creature like myself apologize to a weak human like you?"

Matt looked up at him. "Well, you did mess with her mind and tried to get her to be your private hitmon," he said before taking a step back as the huge Digimon turned his gaze on him. "And who are you?" Zhuqiaomon said coldly. Matt shrugged. "Just a guy here to pass on a warning...heard of a guy named Kurata?" Zhuqiaomon growled, causing Matt to step back several paces, "Kurata, the representation of everything despicable about humans. Even for one of you mortal fleshbags he is despicable. If I ever get my claws on him..." "Oh, believe me, my bosses will want to squish him as bad as you. We're here to say that he wants to wreck your Magma Shard thing," said Matt, "I'm happy to say that we won't let that happen..." "Like you tried to prevent him from destroying the Xerxes Shard?" said Zhuqiaomon sarcastically, "However, you did destroy that plant, which could be appreciated for in lighter circumstances." "Yeah, I could really go toe to toe with an anti-armour mech that's almost as big as you are," said Matt sarcastically. Later, when Matt thought about that moment he would agree that the sarcasm had been pushing it.

Zhuqiaomon flapped his wings, causing a wind that fanned Matt in a somewhat pleasant way, but mostly nearly caused him to fall over backwards. "The past is not as important as the present or the future," said the Sovereign, "The Magma Shard must not be destroyed. Belphemon's wrath is too great to be unleashed." "So, you're gonna let us help?" said Matt, losing it and shouting. Zhuqiaomon's sharp beak was suddenly inches from Matt's face. "Don't order me, human," snarled Zhuqiaomon, "You humans may have the power of biomerging, but they're still not as great as the power of the Sovereigns. If I choose to help you, it will be because the survival of the digital world requires me to, not because you ask me."

Matt seemed unfazed, but in truth, he was sure he'd just had a heart attack. "Fine, whatever helps you sleep at night," he said. His comm beeped. "Endra here...some of your friends from Ex-Gene have turned up..." the comm cut off for a second before continuing. "We can hold em for a bit...but it looks too..." and with that the comm cut into static. "Endra?" said Matt. worried. He turned back to Rika. "We gotta head back, now." Zhuqiaomon ruffled his feathers and said, "It will be much swifter if we travel by my wings. But I will not be viewed as a carriage for humans. Understand?" Matt smirked, "Absolutely."

--

Dante looked out from cover at the cave. It was more or less stalemate. "Ok, look, that hunk of rock isn't worth your lives. Come out with your...appendages where they can be seen and I promise you won't be hurt," he called. His men had managed to catch them off guard but he was sure that the hawk anthro had gotten a comm out before his men had jammed her. Terriermon replied with a rather witty retort, "Ah, your grandmother milked pigs!" Dante glared. "You know, the boss wanted me to nuke this whole sector, be happy I don't share his damn view, ya sorry excuse for a spaniel," he retorted, glaring as his men sniggered. Terriermon didn't use words this time. He just stretched his face and stuck out his tongue. "Terriermon, have some dignity for once," said Henry. "Dignity's for squares," said Impmon, "I'll show ya how ta really get them mad." He then stuck his head and shouted something at Dante that was quite unmentionable. There was a shout from Dante of "Screw it, I'm making an exception to the plan, shoot that little pest!" followed by more laughter from his men.

Meanwhile, on a cliff not too far away, Daemon was watching the rather immature-looking bickering unfold between the two groups. "Well, this is somewhat entertaining," he said, "But nowhere near the true expression of Anger. And it's not getting that Magma Shard knocked down very quickly." His attention shifted to a herd of FlareLizardmon that were playing innocently. "Now there shows some potential," said Daemon as a red flame appeared in his hand.

Dante stared out at the cave and looked down as his comm beeped. It was Kurata. "Sir, kinda busy right now," he said. "Will you quit wasting your time and use that bomb already?" demanded Kurata. "I don't think that'll be necessary," said Dante, "I'm pretty sure we can demolish that rock without it. Using the bomb would just be an overuse of firepower." Dante swore that Kurata's eyes glowed when he yelled. "DO I LOOK LIKE I CARE? DO YOUR JOB, DAMMIT!" and terminated the connection. Dante sighed and looked over at a trooper tapping his shoulder. "YES...What is it? It'll better be...good," he said, his voice trailing off as he looked up to see the tamers coming out the cave with the biggest dragon he'd ever seen in one direction and some cyborg bird coming the other way...and what the hell was the rumbling.

"Uh sir," said one of his men, "I think we might have a new development coming from the north." Dante fixed his binoculars in that direction where a dust cloud was coming towards them. Closer inspection revealed that the dust cloud was being caused by a herd of stampeding FlareLizardmon, eyes glowing a livid red and roaring at the top of their lungs. "Oh hell no...ok..." he calmly passed the binoculars back. "How about we forget the whole thing?" he said in a desperately happy tone of voice. Sadly he chose Zhuqioumon to speak to

"Forget that a group of humans tried to destroy the artifact that keeps Belphemon asleep?" yelled Zhuqiaomon, "Your impudence shall not go unpunished for..." He suddenly noticed the FlareLizardmon stampede, "Something's not right about that."

His words soon proved to be correct as the FlareLizardmon were now starting to throw fireballs at both groups as they charged. Dante and his men scattered like roaches in a lit room as the FlareLizardmon attacked everyone in range. Matt took a few potshots at a couple while Veemon in Flamedramon form punched a few others. "This isn't right," said Garurumon after she blasted a couple back, "FlareLizardmon never attack unless provoked. What could make them want to attack us, especially Zhuqiaomon?"

Chloe narrowly dodged being roasted and shot another trying to get into the cave. "I dunno, are glowing red eyes ever good?" she responded. Matt shot another and said. "It reminds me of when Chaosdramon put those dark ring things on you...the eyes were red then too."

SuperComputemon backhanded a couple and said, "I detect no signs of mental manipulation. Only blinding rage and over-compelling hostility of an unnatural level." "Great, regular nutters," yelled Matt, trying to push one off before it melted his armour. A second problem was made known as all four mercs wrist computers beeped. "Alert...Demolition class EMP detected in vicinity...please proceed to minimum safe distance." "That's never a good sign," said Matt, "Ok, someone's gonna have to turn off that bomb before it could blow us all to whatever this world's version of Kingdom Come is."

Henry suddenly had a thought. "Hey, isn't anger one of the seven deadly sins?" Matt groaned. "Not another demon lord, I still have bruises from Lilithmon." Endra was looking at her wristcomp. "The bomb's that way. Matt, Chloe, you're the only ones with CPS training, come on." She looked down to see Hawkmon. "No, you're not coming," she said, as though reading the small Digimon's mind. "But you might need my help," said Hawkmon. "I think you might be more needed here," said Chloe. As if to prove her point, all the FlareLizardmon suddenly digivolved to MetalTyrannomon. The tamers quickly swiped matrix digivolve cards as the MetalTyrannomon carried on the fight.

Meanwhile...

Matt, Chloe and Endra peered down to see Dante and his remaining men checking the EMP bomb. "Guess he wasn't bluffing," muttered Endra. "Okay, which one of us knows how to deactivate a bomb?" asked Matt, not wanting to try his luck at something delicate. Chloe looked over. "I do, not everyone goes for demolitions as their first flash training choice," she added. A cry came from below as several of the MetalTyrannomon decided that Dante's men were an easier snack. "Hmm, well that'll serve as a large part of our distraction," said Matt, "but what will we do for a more localized one?" His eyes slowly turned to Veemon. "I don't like that look," said Veemon. Matt looked at Veemon.

"You'll be fine, me and Chloe are professionals," he said and pushed Veemon out of cover. "There's one...get that shrimp." yelled one of Dante's men. Several of them chased after Veemon out of sight. Dante didn't pay attention so missed the flash of light that signified a evolution. He did hear the yells though. "What is going on over-" Dante turned to see Chloe and Endra pointing blasters at him. "You've gotta be kidding me." Chloe kneed Dante between the legs and pushed him over. "I never kid, buster," she said and walked over to the bomb. Dante managed to scramble to his feet and run off, almost running into Flamedramon as he did. "Did I miss much?" said Matt, following his partner. Chloe waved him into silence, looking at the flashing bomb's A.I interface. "I need quiet..." she muttered.

--

While Mark and SuperComputemon were busy trying to keep the MetalTyrannomon away, they heard a boom coming from the cave. "That doesn't sound good," said Mark and he and SuperComputemon headed back to see what caused it. When they went into the cave, they saw a cloaked Digimon with a fireball in his hand, preparing to throw it at the already-cracked obelisk. "You Nullspace humans, don't you tire of being late?" said the Digimon, throwing the fireball into the Obelisk, blowing it apart. Mark was about to shoot the Digimon when SuperComputemon said, "Caution, my databank identifies this Digimon as Daemon, Demon Lord of Anger." "Ah, you robbed me of the fun of introducing myself," said Daemon, "Oh well, I was just leaving anyways." "You're not getting past us that easily," said Mark, taking a defensive position along with SuperComputemon.

Daemon sighed and waved a hand, a wall of force blasting the two back. "Please, you think you have a ghost of a chance?" he said cockily. "We won't admit that we didn't try," said SuperComputemon, "BRAIN SCRAMBLER!" Daemon dodged the attack easily and threw another fireball at the ultimate level, blasting him into the wall hard. "Such a shame, if you'd run you may have escaped the bomb that Kurata ordered deploying," he taunted

"You...will...not...leave...unscathed!" shouted SuperComputemon. Suddenly he was surrounded by white light. His voice was heard calling out, "SuperComputemon digivolve to... Turbomon!" The light faded to reveal a Digimon that looked a lot like the cybernetic armor Mark had briefly wore at the plant. A noticeable difference was that the torso was red, the head was black, the forearms were gold, the lower legs were blue, and the rest was silver. Daemon just looked bored. "Please, you think you are the first mega I have deleted and absorbed? EVIL INFERNO!" he yelled, firing a stream of fire from his hand flamethrower style. Turbomon dodged the attack and shouted, "ARMOR BARRAGE!" His body broke up into smaller components and flew straight at Daemon. Daemon, not excepting such an attack, was buffeted back, but not truly harmed. Daemon snarled and said, "You think one cheep shot will stop..." Suddenly he heard Barbamon's voice, "Daemon, I personally find no problem with destroying these insects, but you are potentially at risk when the bomb goes off if you don't leave immediately." Daemon sighed and looked at the two. "You're lucky I don't have time to play with you. We won't meet again," he said and vanished into the shadows. "Well, I'm not certain to be relieved or insulted," said Mark. Turbomon glanced over at the ruins of the Magma Shard and said, "I think a more appropriate mood would be shame."

Back at the bomb, Matt was taking potshots at the few mercs who were dumb enough to come back while Flamedramon kept lookout the other way. "Sounds like the fight's over," Matt said. Chloe nodded and breathed out as the bomb finally chimed and disarmed. "One last thing," she muttered, pulling out the detonator and stamping on it. "There, all safe now." Endra nodded. "Some good news for your tamer friends then," she said. When they arrived Zhuqiaomon's expression did not look like that of the winning side. "The bomb's been safely neutralized," reported Matt, hoping that would lighten the mood. "That is reassuring, but unfortunately, our true enemy has succeeded in his true goal," said Zhuqiaomon, "Daemon has destroyed the Magma Shard, and with it the greatest restraint on Belphemon." Matt thought about this for a second. "...Bugger," he said finally, "Least we messed up Kurata's plans. I hope he fires Dante, then we only have morons to deal with."

--

From a rock a little way away, Dante gently fumed. "That little PEST!" he said, looking as the mercs and tamers tried to convince Zhuqioumon that it had not been a total loss after all. "Kurata's not gonna be pleased with this. The team's not been able to accomplish anything." Dante thought of what he could say to Kurata when he finally came to the conclusion: "Ah, screw this. I've had enough of this digital crap. I getting out of this wonderland. But first, I'm gonna get a little payback." He brought his snifer rifle and started loading it.

--

"...you can't just blame us. How could we know some nutcase was gonna teleport into the cave and fry the obelisk?" said Matt, getting a bit angry. Volcadramon was also saying how there had been no way to prevent it, but the Sovereign was not having any of it. "You should have left someone behind in order to guard the obelisk in case one of their number managed to sneak in," said Zhuqiaomon. "Oh right, how many among us are capable of stopping a Mega-level Demon Lord?"

Endra glared. "You...bully...you have no respect for anyone but yourself. Are you sure you weren't a..." she yelled before stopping, seeing a dot on the back of Matt's armour, slowly going up till it was aligned with Matt's neck. Zhuqioumon glared. "I was a what?" he said dangerously and was surprised as Endra shouted "NO!" and tackled Matt just as a crack was heard. Both Matt and Endra hit the dirt and a small pool of red slowly formed beneath them.

--

"Dammit, spotter, did I get him?" swore Dante, looking at his partner. "It appears that the hawk took the bullet for him," said his partner. Dante swore and said, "Won't have time for another shot before they're upon us. Let's pull out."

Chloe pulled Endra off Matt and checked her brother while Mark checked Endra. "What hit me?" said Matt in a dazed voice before seeing Endra. "Oh no...nononononononono," he said pushing Mark off and pulling out a medical nanite shot. Endra just smiled. "Won't work...on me..." she said weakly. Matt looked up at the others. "Come on...DO SOMETHING!" he yelled. All the others were at a lost of what to do. Even Zhuqiaomon was unable to say anything, and that was a very significant thing. Chloe knelt down and said, "Matt, I'm not sure there's anything we can do." Matt glared at her. "No...no I don't believe that," he said. Endra weakly lifted her hand and put something in Matt's hand. "Here's...my...communicator. Help...is...coming..." Then her head dropped down and her eyes closed. After that, her entire body dissipated into bits of data and floated away. Matt just stared. He looked down at the communicator as if unsure what it was. "Hnngh," he said simply and got up stiffly.

For once, Zhuqiaomon didn't have a proud sneer on his face. "A fleshling sacrificing herself to save another fleshling. I never would have conceived something as this. I thought all of those from the real world cared only for themselves..." "Shut up!" snapped Matt, "Just shut up, you overgrown peacock! You were so blind...you're sooo ready to make a big deal when you should have been out there dropkicking Kurata off this rock. But NO...you're holed up in your damn volcano. You have no idea how the outside world works or how we think...so shut the hell up before I make you," and with that, Matt pushed past the tamers and stalked off, fuming. Zhuqiaomon normally would have incinerated someone for saying something like that, Matt's words had cut him deeply. His normal bluster had shriveled down to nothing.

Matt was sitting looking at the communicator when he heard Chloe and Veemon coming up. "Go away." he said dully. "Matt, I know you two haven't known each other long," said Chloe, "but she clearly meant something to you. I can see that." "Come on, Matt," said Veemon, "It's not like it's the end of the world." Matt looked over and began laughing. "Not the end of the world? That Belphemon dude's got a free ticket to this planet and if the NSC find a demon lord they'll probably nuke the planet to make sure he doesn't bother the bloody NSC, then Endra died for no reason whatsoever," he said once he'd stopped laughing. "Have you even checked that communicator she gave you?" asked Chloe, "I'm pretty sure it has some signficance if she gave it to you."

Matt clicked it and a voice began to come out. "...is the USS Niagra to all NSC affiliated personnel on this frequency...please respond. Repeat...all survivors of the S&R ship USS Saints folly...respond." Chloe quickly snatched the communicator from Matt and spoke into it, "This is Chloe Lynch, I'm the only survivor from that ship." "Affirmative. Battlegroup 15 is in the area and moving in on a rogue bio-lab in sector..." there was a pause as whoever was on the other end checked something "...D-7 in a desert region...we're picking up huge dimensional flux in the area...possible dimensional ripper bomb..." Matt, Chloe and Veemon looked at each other with worried expressions and ran back to the others.

"Guys, I don't we have time to mope," said Matt to the others, "There's a NSC fleet coming, which could be a good thing, but they said there might be a dimensional ripper bomb in the area. I bet Kurata's getting ready to head back to the real world." Matt looked up at the Sovereign. "We need to get the desert region or everyone's screwed."

--

Dante and his remaining team jumped out the portal to the Lab and rubbed his head. "That is it. I am sick to death of the job. I'd rather die then do one more of that wacko's odd jobs," he said. A voice said, "It seems our commander wishes to oblige that request..." as several splitter troopers walked out of the shadows...

Commander Kar-Tai entered Kurata's office. "Sir, I have good news and bad news," said Kar-Tai. "The good news first," said Kurata. "The good news is that the Magma Shard has been demolished. The bad news is that Dante has gone AWOL, permanently." Kurata glared, "I thought your men could handle him." The commander sighed, "We underestimated his team. They killed the squad and escaped in a shuttle before we could power up the base's AA defenses." Kurata slammed his fist on his desk, causing several cracks in it. "Why is it that my orders can't be followed all the way through?" he yelled. "Perhaps it's best if I just leave you," said Kar-Tai, noticing the angry green aura around Kurata. He left the office and smirked to himself. Then his body reconfigured back to Daemon. "Humans are so easy to get worked up," he said, "and it's only a matter of time before Belphemon's 'third lock' shatters on its own."

**So the NSC are finally on their way…but the two obelisks are destroyed…is it too late?**

**Please R&R!**


	19. Chapter 19

**Digimon, Dr Kurata and digimon tamers is property of Bandai.**

**Nullspace, Matt and Exo-Gene inc are my property. Mark and Robomon are the property of my co-author, Cydra. **

**C.P.S Chronicles: Digital Conspiracy**

**Chapter ****19: The doctor is out.**

Matt peered over the dune into the huge crater that contained Lab 2. It looked less of a lab and more of a military installation. Small tanks patrolled the border, guard towers with snipers stood sentry and a huge 6 barrelled plasma cannon sat aiming skywards.

Matt whistled and said, "Kurata does not want to be disturbed here." "Too bad he doesn't have a doorbell," said Chloe, "Shall we biomerge and storm the place?" "No, we'll work separately for now. We'll be able to cover more ground and we won't be attracting too much attention," said Matt, "I don't want those cannons to be able to take us all out in one shot."

Chloe looked at the huge cannon. "That AA cannon'll shred the NSC fleet." she said worriedly. Matt nodded. "Well...you've got the comm." "Who's there?" demanded a voice, a unfriendly voice. "Uh oh, trouble," said Matt as a group of guards came towards them.

The first ones began shooting as soon as they could. A shot caught Chloe on her armour, spinning her to the floor. Matt helped her up and the two ran for it. The lead guard watched them go. "Call it in." he said

--

It turned out that something had been damaged. "I don't smegging believe it." said Matt, looking at the comm which had a bullet lodged in its controls. Matt tried futilely to activate it, but threw down on the ground with a Splitter swearword.

Chloe sighed. "So much for help..." she said. Mark looked at the comm. "Definitely toast..." Then Mark had an idea and looked over at the comm tower. "I bet we could use that to call in the fleet," he said. "Oh, great idea," said Matt sarcastically, "We'll just walk in and ask Kurata if we could use his phone." Chloe looked more thoughtful. "What about the sewer? Place has to have one." she said.

Just then, the others came back. "The place is pretty solid," said Ryo, "they've got guards at every entrance." "What about the sewer pipes?" asked Chloe. "Uh, no, no one's guarding those. Why?" Matt sighed. "Hope you brought pegs." he said.

--

The sewers themselves were still quite clean, a sign of the bases infancy apparently. "Ok...I really wish we'd brought more helmets...this place sticks big time." said Matt miserably. Veemon said. "Hey...I have a better sense of smell...how do you think I feel? Leomon was not having a picnic either, but he was trying to bear with it, "We should be careful when choosing where to surface. We don't want to end up in a crowded area."

*Matt looked up as they passed the various hatches. "I don't think that'll be easy. Hey, Mark...where's the comm room hatch?" "How should I know?" said Mark. "Well, you worked for Kurata, you should know how his bases work." Mark just reached down and grabbed a blob of green and purple sludge and chucked it at Matt in annoyance.

Matt yelped as the sludge hit him in the chest. "Why you little..." he muttered, grabbing the sludge to throw it back...which grew two eyes that focussed on him. Both Matt and the Numemon screamed in unison.

Matt dropped the Digimon as if it were a radioactive isotope. "Gross," said Matt as he wiped the slime off of him. "Who are calling gross," said Numemon, "You humans make these places. Not that they're bad though." Matt stared at it, speechless while Chloe looked at her digivice. "Numemon...champion level. How come you guys weren't kicked out by Kurata and his pet gorillas...no offence, Mark." she asked.

"Nobody ever looks down here," said Numemon. "You know, that is a good point," said Matt, "Don't they ever learn to put a security system in the sewer?" The Numemon shrugged. "Sometimes the humans come down here but mostly they're up at their talking room."

"How many of you guys are down here?" asked Takato. "From what I've heard about Numemon," said Henry, "They really like it dark, damp, and stinky. So I'm guessing a whole lot of them." The numemon looked proud. "Enough to make those humans think twice about attacking us again." Mark nodded. He'd been leading said attack force when it had happened. Nobody had died...but they had smelled like they had.

Guilmon said, "So you guys must know these tunnels like the back of your, um-" He leaned over to Terriermon and asked, "What do they have instead of hands?" The Numomon pointed up a side tunnel. "Yeah...we know this place pretty good. What ya looking for?" Chloe said. "The co...the humans talking room...we got alot to say."

"Follow me and watch your step," said Numemon. "Oh, I intend to," said Matt, making sure that nothing else on the ground was alive. The Numemon led the gang through the maze that the sewer system was, including bypassing a few...surprises. Matt whistled, looking into a adjacent tunnel to see the auto-turrets that they would have strolled into. The gang eventually came to a chrome steel ladder leading up to a pressure hatch in the ceiling. A faded latter said 'Communication Tower. Engineering Hatch. No unauthorized useage.'

"Huh, a tower with a direct sewer connection," said Matt, "Seems kinda oxymoronic." Chloe looked up. "Well...I think just me Matt and Mark should go up." she said. The other tamers and Digimon disagreed. "Well, yes, I see the danger in it, but you guys won't be able to fit as Champions. Besides, no one's gonna see us." Matt added. "Until we want em too."

--

However, above the entrance to the sewer, a security camera was on constant alert. And it was Kar-Tai who was watching the monitor when the trio crawled up. "No," he growled, "We've come too far to be foiled now." "Security...report to Comm engineering hatch and main control...stun only. The good doctor wil lwant to talk to them." he said.

--

The trio of technicians in the comm room were bored. "Stuff this...I'm gonna get a coffee." said one, walking to the door. "Want some...thing?" he said jumping back as the lock vaporised and the door hissed open to reveal three armed people. "Ok...against the wall...move it." said one. "Mark...send the signal...if the fleet drop outta nullspace without shields they're toast." he added as the girl kept the door covered.

"You three, your security cards," said another to the technicians. "Why would we need them?" asked the girl. "In case we have to get somewhere else in this base." "Good thinking, Matt," she said. The technicians handed over their card reluctantly. Chloe went to cover the balcony and was confronted by a security guard. "Freeze." he said and was kicked over the balcony by a kick from Chloe. "Mark.,..is it sent?" Matt said as multiple footsteps were heard getting nearer.

"Ok, I've got a connection," said Mark, "Just need a little more time-" A pulse blast melted the console. Matt and Mark turned to see Chloe held in a headlock by a huge splitter. "Unless you want her head at your feet, you'll surrender now," said Kar-Tai. The angry vibe Matt was getting from him told him he wasn't fooling around in the least bit.

Matt slowly put his gun on the floor. "Easy...we're not resisting." he said. The splitter pushed Chloe roughly in their direction. "Take them away...sewer team...do you have the others?" "No, they've slipped away, left a stink bomb down there to throw us off," said one of the soldiers, who looked like he really wanted a high pressure shower.

Matt smirked. "Problem with the tenants?" he said cheekily and was kicked in the stomach. "Take them to the good doctor...sewer team…tell me you have some good news." Kar-tai said. The trio was led down a series of corridors until they were marched into a large corner office. Sitting behind the desk was the well-loathed Kurata, who looked like someone had set up a surprise birthday party for him.

"Hey...whats up doc?" said Matt, cheekily. "I told you that you'd never get veemon back...and in under...two minutes the NSC is gonna clean your clock good." "I believe you're bluffing," said Kurata, "even if you weren't it matters little. I will soon have my personal army to take care of their equipment." "Pardon me for stating the obvious," said Chloe, "but they haven't been doing very well so far." "Oh, I'm not talking about that army," said Kurata as he pushed a button on his desk.

A video feed into a weaponry testing lab came up to show. "Robomon? He's still with the other...right?" Said Matt. "Not that malfunction," said Kurata, "This Robomon's programming has been trimmed of all its previous glitches, such as free will and conscience. And he's completely capable of digivolving to Mega all by himself." Kurata turned off the video feed and said, "Now, I know you three have been a collective thorn in my side, but there's a chance for you to get on the winning side. Join me and you'll be able to survive my onslaught on the real and digital worlds."

Matt, Mark and Chloe seemed to think about it then all blew a collective raspberry at the good doctor. "I'd rather jump into an active volcano drenched in petrol." said Matt. "That could be easily arranged," said Kurata, "But I'd prefer a more elegant and slower demise for you three. Take them away." Matt laughed all the way. "The NSC'll kick your arse...I'm sure you'll find the psycho wing of Kryos comfortable." he said in a parting shot.

--

The trio were led outside into the courtyard. They were lined up against a wall on one side while a group of soldiers on the other side were busy arming their weapons. "A firing line?" said Mark, "What is this? The 1800's?" The splitter in charge glared at them. "Commanders orders, traitor." he said. "Ready...take aim..." Matt looked up, seeing something. "Is it a bird...is it a plane?" he muttered and like everyone else fell over as the trio of NSC skyfang fighters blew up a row of garages and fired a cluster of energy shots into the giant cannon. "Nope...definitely a plane." said Matt. "Leg it." yelled Mark as the soldiers began running around in confusion, the execution forgotten.

Confusion and gunfire quickly filled the air as the whole complex was being fired upon by the skyfangs. Turrets quickly rotated to fire at the invading threat. More threats turned up as several huge twin-barreled tanks materialized just outside the gates and quickly demolished them, rumbling in to fire on anyone with a gun while VTOL gunships flew over, blasting any turret that took an interest. Everyone was so busy fighting one another that they paid no attention tot he group of digimon who quickly fought their way through Kurata's men.

"So what's the plan?" asked Rapidmon as he shot the floor underneath some soldiers. "We keep on fighting until we find Matt, Chloe, and Mark," said IceLeomon as he froze some other soldiers in blocks of ice. "Sounds good to me," said Beelzemon, "Dance suckers, dance!" He shot the ground with his shotguns around some other soldiers, forcing them to dodge around the energy bullets.

A ORCA flew over the troopers that Beezlemon had been shooting at, dispatching them with its nose gun before swooping away to attack another bunch. Several dropships flew overhead, dropping troopers into the field.

--

Matt spotted the group first. "HEY...OVER HERE!" he yelled and had to duck as some of Kurata's men spotted him. The commander looked at them. "So...you're the guys we have to thank...I suppose....where's Dr Kurata?...we have a warrant for his arrest." he said and jumped back along with his men at the tamers landed.

"Don't worry, they're with us," said Mark. "I think you'll find Kurata inside that big building," said Chloe, "You better tell your pilots to lay off the levellers if you want to get him alive." "I don't really care...nobody shoots at my ships." said the guy. "Commander Neilsson...lets get this straight...I don't like mercs...but I'll take any help I can...omega teams already after the Doctor...you go back him up." said Neilsson, ignoring the dark looks said mercs gave him.

--

Meanwhile, a team of troopers were running through one of the corridors. One of them looked a little out of place, partially because he was younger, partially because he didn't have any weapons. "Dammit, I'm a technician, not a soldier," he muttered. "Shut up, Techo. We need someone to open these damn doors." said the Captain. One of the troopers ran round the corner, blasted a Exo-Gene soldier with a triple burst and carried on without slowing. The group spotted Kurata down a corridor. "Hey...FREEZE!" yelled one trooper.

Kurata quickly ran, with the soldiers running after him. They chased him into what must be the main lab. Suddenly a small figure appeared in front of them, a robot with a black and grey color scheme. "Alert," it said in a monotonic voice, "Imminent threats detected. Robomon warp digivolve to... Turbomon." The robot suddenly grew into a larger human-sized robot with the same color scheme.

The troopers looked at each other and smoothly began firing at the machine. Techo arrived in time to see the machine, ignoring the rounds, stick its fist through a trooper and tear the guy in half.

The robot then intoned, "ROCKET BLITZ!" and several rockets lauched out of various parts of his upper body and divided into even smaller rockets. They then tore through the troopers like shrapnel. Techo whimpered as a gun dropped near him, an arm still holding it. The thing turned and looked at him. "Oh no." he whimpered. It looked at him with its visor-like scanner and said, "Zero presence of offensive equipment. Threat level: insignificant."

Techo stayed in the corner as Kurata walked out, followed by his companion until the tamers arrived. "...oh god." said Matt, looking like he was gonna throw up. Chloe quickly stopped the tamers coming in by shutting the door on em.

Mark then noticed Techo, hiding the corner. "Take it easy, we're the good guys. What did all this?" "It...Kurata had...some kinda..." he spotted Robomon and grabbed the gun, firing wildly at the digimon. "LOOK OUT...ITS OVER THERE!" he yelled. "Hold it! Hold it!" yelled Mark, "That's my partner." Techo gave Mark a look of disgust. "I think he may have saw the other Robomon," said Chloe. "Ah, that would explain it," said Matt. He turned to Techo and said, "It's okay, the robot you saw before was the evil clone of this guy."

"Bullshit...raise em now." he yelled, turning his gun on the others till Gabumon fired a blue blaster, knocking the gun away. "You don't want to do that, that's how Kurata thinks," said Mark, "You don't want to be like him."

Techo looked unsure for a moment and looked ready to hand over the gun when a taunting voice came over the speakers. "Well, well...you just won't die...will you?" At the same time a beep came from the door. They'd locked.

"GAMMA FORCE!" intoned Evil Turbomon and he let out a wave of magnetism. The blast hit Matt and Chloe's digivices which promptly beeped out, "Biomerge disabled." "But regular digivolving isn't," said Mark's Robomon, "Robomon digivolve to... Turbomon." The difference between the two was easy to spot because Mark's Turbomon was colorful while the evil one was just black and grey.

Matt and Chloe swiped their own matrix digivolve cards. Matt pointed at the turbomon clone and looked at Paildramon. "Kick his titanium ass." Evil Turbomon scanned Paildramon and WereGarurumon X and droned, "Subjects' are of digital nature, power level-ultimate, threat level-lesser." Then he focused on Mark's Turbomon and stated, "Subject of digital nature, power level-mega, threat level-significant, logical solution-eliminate subject's controller." He turned to face Mark, rocket hatches opening and loading.

Matt threw an EMP grenade onto the rocket pod, disabling it. "Cop that...oh hell." he said as Evil Turbomon turned to look at him instead. "Subject's armaments of magnetic level, threat level-lesser, conclusion-organics elimination comes first. ROCKET BLITZ!" Evil Turbomon fired its rockets again, a large amount heading towards Mark.

Paildramon flew in front, taking all the blasts and de-digivolving as he flew over matt...hit the wall and slid down, unconscious. Matt glared and his eyes alighted on something in the corner. "Hey...dude...come here." he said to Techo.

Matt pulled the half-fallen tarpaulin off a huge cannon covered in wires. "Ok...dude...work you magic." Techo looked at him. 2What makes you think I can?" Matt looked crestfallen. "You can't?" Techo smirked. "Course I can. dude." he said and began typing on the control panel built into the guns side. "Railgun primed...activating quick-charge mode." it chimed.

"Five...four...three...two...one...fire." it said and a blue beam shot out, the slug concealed by sheer speed. It barely missed Evil Turbomon, blowing a hole through the wall...the one behind it...and the one behind that until it shot out an outer wall.

Evil Turbomon turned and intoned, "Identifying source of disruption. Threat level-great significance. Conclusion-" He didn't have time to finish his calculations before it fired again and nailed him in the lower chest. The blast nailed the doppelganger to the wall like a pinned insect. The railgun chimed. "Overheat detected...entering cooldown mode."

Evil Turbomon stood up shakily and stated, "Health level dropped by 200 HP. Elimination of threats's urgency increased. ROCKET BLITZ!" This time it was WereGarurumon X's turn to fend off the hail and de-digivolve.

Mark's Turbomon recognized the danger his partner was in and called out, "ARMOR BARGGAGE!" He separated into smaller pieces and flew at Evil Turbomon. He struck at him before flying back and equipping himself to Mark, giving him a full suit of armor.

Matt and Techo ran for cover as the now wounded and malfunctioning Turbomon clone began firing wildly. Techo looked at the door to the observation room and spotted Kurata through the doors window. "Hello..." he said, going to work on the door lock.

"Illogical," stated Evil Turbomon, "This unit possess no weak connections. Defeat by units of weaker connections is implausible." "You have no idea how strong those connections are," said Mark from inside Turbomon's armor. "Uniting our hearts is the true source of real power," said Mark's Turbomon. Suddenly Mark's Turbomon started glowing brightly. The bulkier armor on his body disappeared as he called out, "Turbomon biomerge to... Turbomon Cyborg Mode!" Without the bulkier armor, Turbomon was now a bright silver all over and a lot more streamlined-looking.

Evil Turbomon scanned his reformatted counterpart, "Composition partially organic. Conclusion-fighting potential has downgraded significantly." "Oh really?" said Turbomon Cyborg Mode, "We'll see about that. NANOSEC SLASHER!" He charged Evil Turbomon with faster than sight speed and struck him several times with liquid metal blades from his arms.

--

In the observation room, Kurata screamed in rage as the inferior prototype destroyed his improved model. He didn't hear the click of the door opening but he did hear the click of the gun. "Hi there, doc...how are ya?" said Techo angrily.

"It's all over now Kurata," said Matt as he and Chloe followed Techo in, "Turn yourself over now and the NSC might spare you. Of course you'll have to be sent to the funny farm, but everyone knows you needed to a long time ago." Kurata turned to stare at them angrily. "NO...YOU THREE...INFERIOR IDIOTS...YOU CAN'T HAVE RUINED THIS...YOU'RE AS BAD AS THOSE OTHER KIDS WERE!" he screamed. Matt looked at Chloe "What other kids?" Techo said. "Er...should he be glowing like that?"

Suddenly Kurata's clothes looked a little too small for him. Then Matt realized that Kurata was growing. The large muscles soon started tearing his clothes, revealing dark brown fur underneath. Then his backside completely ripped apart as six pairs of purple bat wings sprang out. His face started distorting as the fur started spreading to it. The mouth stretched out into a fanged-filled muzzle.

The glasses, displaced by the growth, fell to the ground where a clawed paw stepped on it and crushed it to bits. Then long goat horns sprang from the back of his head and grew until they went all the way down his back. The remains of his clothes were engulfed in green flames that solidified into chains and pieces of armor. Then Kurata's eyes sprang open as a blood red color and he roared loudly, causing a wind that nearly blew them all away.

"Oh my god." said Matt. The three mercs began shooting wildly at the monster which laughed as the rounds did nothing. The former Kurata knocked the ceiling off and started exiting the building in a very destructive manner. This did not go unnoticed by anyone, as seen when a MARV aimed and blasted at him. The sonic shells, designed to blow up grounded star cruisers did more then the bullets did, knocking the huge creature to the deck. It didn't stop him though as he returned fire, slicing the MARV in half, lengthways.

Matt, Chloe, and Techo ran out the building. Turbomon CM followed carrying Veemon and Gabumon X. They headed over to the others and said, "Ok, who here was surprised by that happening? Raise your hands in the air if you were." The digimon Kurata hd become ripped a warehouse open and pulled out some device that he threw skywards. The device exploded violently, creating a very familiar portal. "Oh nuts." said Matt. "He's going back." muttered Chloe.

"Ok, Kurata's going to the real world to really create a mess and we have to stop him," said Matt. "Kurata?" said IceLeomon, "That was Belphemon." Matt paused and said, "Ok, the surprise level's gonna need a couple more notches. Now we obviously have to be at full power to beat this. Everyone biomerge and let's get up there." "Not so fast," said Neilsson as he walked over, "I don't know how you made this mess, but you're not going to cause any more of it."

Matt glared daggers at Neilsson. "For heavens sake...how many branches on the idiot tree did you hit on the way down?" Chloe added. "We have to go help..." "That's against NSC policies," said Neilsson, "That world has not reached wormhole-level tech yet. We cannot interfere with its development." "Are you kidding?" yelled Ryo, "People warp between there and here all the time."

Neilsson turned to Ryo. "Nobody asked you, kid...bugger off and get an ice cream." he said and turned to meet Matt and Chloe's fists at high speed. He went over like a felled tree. "Shall we go?" said Matt brightly, 'accidentally' stepping on Neilsson as they went over to the tamers.

Matt and Chloe were quick to follow. Neilsson, his lip bleeding glared up. "I hate mercs." he muttered

--

On a ledge, overlooking the lab, Kar-Tai had watched the fight between the NSC and Exo-Gene with interest. There was a shimmer behind him as Barbamon and Devimon appeared. At the same time his own form shimmered to reveal Daemon. "Well...I can say that this NSC won't be a walkover after all." he said.

"We never expected them to be," said Barbamon, "However, Belphemon seems like he is capable of withstanding a great deal of their 'common artillery'." "Ironic isn't it?" said Devimon, "Kurata originally merged with Belphemon so he could enter his Rage Mode. Now the roles seems to have reversed." "So what are we waiting here for?" said Daemon, "If Belphemon's going to smash those little brats out of existence, I want a top row seat."

**Oooh…Belphemons out the bag and making trouble. Next chapter…the final battle and some goodbyes…be sure to R&R!**


	20. Chapter 20

**Digimon, Dr Kurata and digimon tamers is property of Bandai.**

**Nullspace, Matt, Exo-Gene inc and Balwak station are my property. Mark is the property of my co-author, Cydra.**

**C.P.S Chronicles: Digital Conspiracy**

**Chapter 20: ****Ending the Conspiracy**

Night had fallen on the city of Tokyo. It was relatively peaceful and quiet. Nearly everyone was asleep. Everyone, that is, except the people in the Hypnos building. Riley and Tally were working the late shift. Usually it was quiet, not tonight. "This one's a big one. It's bypassing all the firewalls. It's like it's using a backdoor," said Riley, sending another spike towards the wild one that was incoming, only for the spike to even fail to lock on. Yamaki was flipping his cigarette lighter out of nervousness. "It's not the D-Reaper, is it?" he asked. "Negative," said Riley, "It's weaker than that, but not by much. This kind of reading could only come from a Mega-level."

--

In the strange non-world between the two dimensions, the NSS Epsilon followed close behind Belphemon, just ahead of the tamers. It had been perfectly placed to watch Belphemon annihilate 2nd Armoured divisions MARV and support vehicles from orbit. Captain Olsen looked at the main screen at the giant creature that had done the deed. "Fire control, are we in range yet?" he said. "Almost sir," said one of the technicians, "By the way, I think some one in the real world is able is detecting this thing and, by extension, us." Olsen shrugged, "Let's give em a show. Two Pulsar torpedoes up that thing's arse please, ensign." The fire control officer nodded and a second later two almost black orbs shot out at supersonic speed.

--

"Sir," said Tally, "We've detected another presence behind the wild one. If I'm anyone to judge, I'd say it was a spaceship, and it's firing at the wild one." Then Hypnos' computer detected the ship's missiles, visible with the same signals used to display Hypnos's tracker programs hitting the wild one, which turned partially around and fired a purple beam from its mouth.

--

Olsen and the crew cheered as the torpedoes both hit and exploded. The cheers died a slow death when they saw that the Digimon was not harmed...and looked pissed. A purple beam shot from its mouth back at them. "Oh shit...HARD TO STARBOARD!" he yelled, too late. The beam stuck the port engine dead on, slicing through the armour easily and almost ripping the engine clean off. The bridge erupted into chaos as panels exploded and the turbulence tossed crew around. "Our jump engine's losing field stability, we're materializing off target," yelled the pilot.

--

Belphemon's digital field easily covered half the city so hardly anyone saw the NSS Epsilon shimmer into existence, its port engine ablaze until it splashed into the bay.

--

UlforceVeedramon swore angrily. "That smeg, wait till I get my hands on Kurata. I'll send him to Kryos in a matchbox," he said. The tamers, following behind the Epsilon had been given the best view in the house to watch it go down, Tokyo bay becoming visible for a split second as the doomed ship warped back into normal space. "Looks like we're gonna have to the fighting now," said MetalGarurumon X. "Well there's nine of us against one of him," said MegaGargomon, "How hard could it be?" "Uh, if this guy's a Demon Lord, doesn't that make like super-powerful or something?" asked Beelzemon Blast Mode. "We are so screwed," said Matt in the privacy of his and Veemon's shared mind. Veemon said, "We can handle this guy. The bigger they are..." Matt finished the thought with his personal type of end. "...the harder they squish you."

The Tamers soon came out of the wormhole and to Tokyo. Belphemon was not hard to find as his roaring was waking up everyone in the city. UlforceVeedramon whistled. "This is a bit cliché...monster in Tokyo? Godzilla ripoff anyone?" he said. Belphemon noticed them coming and shouted, "LAMPRANTHUS!" The flaming chains wrapped around his body reached out and tried to swat them from the sky. "Never saw Godzilla do that," said MetalGarurumon X.

"Makes you wish the NSC would get off their butts and send more ships," said UforceVeedramon before yelling "RAY OF VICTORY!" shooting at the back of Belphemons head. The attack didn't even singe his fur. All this made was made Belphemon roar "LYNCH!" and swipe at UlforceVeedramon with his energy claws. "He either has a really big vendetta against me," said Matt as he dodged the claws, "Or he was using the word in the literal case. Neither suggestion's anything good."

Belphemon swiped again, this time grabbing UforceVeedramon by the foot and dangling him upside down. "Hi, Kurata...don't tell me...new haircut," Matt said cheekily. Whatever was left of Kurata was able to make a nasty quip, "That's not all. I've changed on this inside too. Allow me to show you." UlforceVeedramon suddenly found himself being lifted to Belphemon's fang-filled mouth. "Hey!" he called, "You're supposed to be the Demon Lord of Sloth, not Gluttony!" "Yeah, that's me," said Beelzemon, "DOUBLE IMPACT!" Two blasts from his shotguns almost blew Belphemon's hand off at the wrist, making him drop UforceVeedramon. "Wow, that guy needs a tic tac stat," he said before nodding in thanks at Beezlemon. "I've got an extra-strength one right here," said Beelzemon, lifting his right arm. He aimed his Death Slinger cannon at Belphemon and shouted, "CORONA BLASTER!"

The blast actually made Belphemon stagger, time enough for Turbomon Cyborg Mode, MetalGarurumon X and UlforceVeedramon to launch a triple attack to add to Beezlemon's attack. Shortly afterwards, the tamers also joined in. Belphemon was knocked to the ground, causing a large cloud of dust. But when the dust cleared, it showed Belphemon standing up, looking only angrier if anything. "Ok, this guy's got a really thick hide," said Gallantmon. MegaGargomon flew down to Belphemon and said, "How about you pick on someone your own size?" Inside their hybrid forms, all three mercs, all with lots of experience with Murphy's law winced in unison and weren't surprised as Belphemon backhanded MegaGargomon into a empty building. "Ok, let me try something," said Turbomon CM. Green digital lights spun around him as he shouted out, "TURBO DOWNLOAD!" Then a familiar launcher grew out of his arm after which he called, "BURNING CYCLONE!" A fiery whirlwind shot out and surrounded Belphemon. Belphemon fanned away the flames and tried to grab Turbomon with another Lampranthus attack. Turbomon dodged and called out "TURBO DOWNLOAD!" This time, a familiar tail grew out of his back and he called, "BIG CHARGE BOMB!" The bomb that was launched caused Belphemon to wince and not much more.

--

Meanwhile, on a building far away enough from the fighting, Slayerdramon was watching the battle. "Fascinating, only when Turbomon has combined with his human partner is his race's true potential as the origin of the Metal Empire family unleashed."

--

Matt watched the attacks, remembering an earlier foe, those attacks were familier. Reapermon and his buddies. "Hey, Beezlemon, is it me or do those attacks look, familiar?" he said before adding, "Duck," in a bored tone as a stray attack shot between them. "Vulcamon did say that Robomon's line was the first in the Metal Empire family," said MetalGarurumon X, "so Turbomon must be able to access any attack from any Digimon in that family." "That's ridiculous," said Beelzemon. Then Turbomon generated a very familiar cannon and shouted, "CORONA BLASTER!" "You were saying?" said Matt. "Never mind."

Belphemon finally landed a nasty attack, flooring Turbomon CM. "Right...die you little reject," said Belphemon in Kurata's voice. Gallantmon, Sakuyamon, and Beelzemon flew over and divebombed Belphemon with their own attacks, but clearly their attacks were doing nothing. IceLeomon, being an Ultimate, could only create obstacles to keep Belphemon from getting into more populated areas.

Then Belphemon roared, "ETERNAL NIGHTMARE!" He opened his mouth and blasted them all back with a purple beam. Belphemon's horns crackled with electricity as they charged up for a final attack when he stopped, along with everything else. Matt and Chloe looked up to see Cydra hovering over them, a large alarm clock with a seven-pointed star in the middle in his hand.

Chloe glared. "What are you doing here? More precisely, why didn't you help before now?" she said angrily, aiming MetalGarurumon X's Gatling gun at the Ancient. "There's a limit to how much an Ancient can interfere in the realms," said Cydra as he hovered down to meet them, "Since Belphemon is an artificial entity and was about to unleash an attack that could have destroyed all the humans in this city, I am allowed to slip in." Matt glared. "Well, go ahead and get with the nuking. This guy's like a battleship. We hit him with everything short of another planet and he laughed it all off," he said.

"Yes, Belphemon does seem invincible, doesn't he?" said Cydra, "But this is only when he's in Rage Mode. But he has to return to his Sleep Mode for another thousand years. Then he's a lot less harmful." A Digimon card materialized in his other hand, which he handed to UlforceVeedramon, "See for yourself." UlforceVeedramon looked at the card. It showed a much smaller and cuter version of Belphemon in chains. "He looks cute when he's not doing his Godzilla impression," he said. "Notice any other differences between his two modes?" said Cydra, amusement lingering on his voice. UlforceVeedramon nodded. "What about Kurata?" he asked. "Him too, but in truth, Belphemon had been a part of Kurata from the start. In his world, Kurata managed to convert himself into digital energy and used himself to both take control of Belphemon from the inside and shift him to his Rage Mode." Matt muttered. "How'd he do that?" asked Chloe. "By using the one thing that could completely awake him," said Cydra. Matt, unable to resist being a smartass said, "A tankerful of coffee? A foghorn?" "Not that," said Cydra, "Consider the game of 'Missing Pictures', where one picture's missing something in the other picture."

Matt looked and then got it when he saw the clock. "That," he said, pointing. Cydra nodded and handed the clock to Matt. "It's pretty simple really," said Cydra, "Just have two of Belphemon's chains wrap his arms to his sides and then link them with this clock." Matt looked at the Belphemon. "What about the city destroying kaboom?" he asked. Cydra smirked and waved a hand. The blast vanished along with it. "What kaboom?" he said and vanished, time returning.

Belphemon looked around confused, wondering what happened to his attack. "Ok gang, new strategy," said Matt, "Get Belphemon's arm tied to his sides with two of his chains." "What's with the clock?" asked Justimon. "Explain later," said Chloe, "Just do it!" The tamers quickly scattered around Belphemon, giving him too many targets to spot while Matt, held the clock like a baseball. MetalGarurumon X was first to grab a chain, shooting round and pinning Belphemon's left arm tightly. Turbomon grabbed another chain to tie down Belphemon's right arm. The others kept Belphemon's other chains busy and distracted. UlforceVeedramon readied his throw. "Bedtime, doctor!" he said and threw the clock into Belphemon's chest.

MetalGarurumon X and Turbomon reached the center of his chest with the chains' slack when the clock flew over and latched onto the two chains. It then gave off a hypnotic buzzing sound that made Matt's brain feel fuzzy. "NOOOOOO-OOOO-oooo-oo!" Belphemon's roar of fury faded into a yawn, "Curse you...Lynch...you and your sister...I'll get you for this...if it's the last...thing...I..." The rest of Kurata's final rant drifted away as Belphemon shut his eyes and started snoring. Almost immediately, he started shrinking in size and shape until he looked like the picture on the card and was the size of a large teddy bear. The shape then shimmered into Kurata who blinked and looked up. "Oh...shit," he muttered and turned to run, only to be faced by Olsen and a security team. They were all dripping wet from their unscheduled swim in the bay and very angry, one also had some kind of eel sitting on his head, squeaking, the origin of which was never ascertained. "Oh, please try to run, you little smeg," said Olsen coldly.

--

Matt, Mark and Chloe watched with no end of satisfaction as Kurata was pushed onto a waiting transport. The good doctor was a bit bruised after asking for his rights…which apparently included being used as a football by Olsens security team. The NSC had already pulled strings regarding the crash with the local media. The Epsilon was a stunt for an upcoming movie that had gone wrong. "You know, maybe we should visit him? We wouldn't want him to think he was rid of us just cause he was locked up," said Matt with a smirk. "Maybe," said Chloe, "But right now, I could use a good long vacation." "Does that mean you're going away?" asked Guilmon, looking sad. Matt shrugged. "Not for long, the NSC'll probably want a permanent staff here," he said.

Olsen, who'd also been watching and talking into a comm. Lturned it off with a grim expression and said, "I'm afraid not. That little worm, Neilsson's declaring this whole reality quarantined." "What? For what?" demanded Matt, "Apparently after seeing the 'good doctor' transform into a giant demon bear and demolish a whole armoured battalion, he declared it unsafe for non-native humans to be here. He also put a ban on any of these 'Digimon' from entering into Nullspace," said Olsen, "Sounds more like he's throwing his weight around if you ask me." Matt glared. "It's about that punch," he said. Olsen choked on laughter. "You punched Neilsson? Good for you, mate," he said before adding, "He said all personnel have 24 hours to vacate before the quarantine satellites are positioned."

"Well, I guess we will be saying goodbye for a longer time," said Chloe. "But what about me?" asked Gabumon X. "Yeah, you can't just leave like that. You're my partner," said Veemon. Matt looked down at his partner. "If I don't go...well...I don't really know. We're lucky the NSC isn't just nuking the place, proves that it's just Neilsson making smeg up," he said gloomily. Chloe added, "But unfortunately it's our word against his." "But we will see you guys again someday, right?" asked Terriermon. "Yeah," said Impmon, "You two are a lot more fun to pal around with. Interesting stuff keeps following you and you fume so nicely."

Matt rolled his eyes then had an idea. He pulled his baseball cap off and put it on Veemon's head. "Hey, Olsen, I lost my hat," he said innocently. Olsen smirked. "Oh, in that case once the main quarantine limits up you'll have to come back and look. Can't leave something behind forever. It could contaminate the timeline." he said with equal innocence. Matt gave Veemon a hug and said, "Don't lose this hat. It means a lot to me. And don't let other Digimon push you around." "Okay," said Veemon, a little tearily. Matt said. "Well...if they give enough trouble use one of thes..." Chloe interrupted. "NO! NO EMP GRENADES!" she yelled, snatching the grenade Matt had been about to pass his partner.

Then Mark shook hands with Matt. "You coming too?" asked Matt. "Don't have to," said Mark, "I'm from this world. Besides, I can't just leave Robomon by himself. He'd lose his head if it wasn't bolted to his neck." Matt looked at Robomon. "You're not kidding, are you?" he said in a worried tone. "Would you like to hear a tune before you leave?" asked Robomon. "No thanks," said Chloe hastily, "I think I've heard enough music from you."

--

Matt looked at a viewer aimed at the ground. "Neilsson's such a complete ass," he said angrily as the Skyraid flew out the atmosphere. "He can't keep up that quarantine forever," said Chloe, "We'll be back here again." Suddenly the intruder alarm rung. Matt and Chloe turned and yelled in shock to see Mr. Black and Cydra sitting in the passenger seats. Mr. Black was in his classic business suit while, by comparison, Cydra looked like a tourist. "Miss Lynch is quite correct," said Mr. Black before looking at his companion, "Cydra...really...we're on duty."

Cydra shrugged his shoulders and the computer screen-cloak reappeared. "I have to unwind at least once every century," said Cydra. "Can you two tell me why you're here or is the airline food acting up?" said Matt. Cydra said. "When doesn't it? Hey, Black, remember that scrambled egg that I could rub out pencil with?" Mr. Black rolled his eyes. "Kurata's actions will have consequences beyond today...you will return...when you are needed."

"But Kurata's behind bars, we put him there," said Matt. "Unfortunately, he wasn't the only one behind what has happened," said Cydra, taking on a serious tone, "As a matter of fact, he was manipulated most of the time. And those who were manipulating him are not finished with him yet." Matt looked at Cydra. "Who are they?" he said.

Mr. Black said, "You do not need to know...just yet." Before they could put in another question, the two Ancients vanished. "Why do they always do that to us?" said Chloe, visibly annoyed.

--

Dante stood in one of Central Stations many automated cargo facilities. "Where are they?" he muttered, turning and yelping when he saw a T-700 droid staring at. He backed up into a humanoid in a black uniform. "Do you have it?" the human said. "Hmm, aren't battle droids illegal here?" said Dante rhetorically. "I believe what you have is even more illegal," said the human, "Not if you do possess it." Dante smirked. "Touché," he said and passed a baton sized container to the human. "Don't call me, I'll call you," he said and walked off. His contact pulled out a communicator.

--

Dr Johnson was a leading member of Pan Pacific, one of the few companies authorized to operate outside Nullspace. "You have it, good." The person on the other end said. "My master will expect results. You know what he will do if you fail." Dr. Johnson took a glance at the blueprints that crossed his computer screen, "Hmm... very advanced , designed to imprint off the host's personality, notably their darker traits, could develop very sophisticated intellects, but fortunately a loyalty program's been added as well. This will be the best thing I've ever made. I just need some suitable hosts," he said, looking at the security footage Dante had got from Lab one, his gaze focusing on the footage of the Lynches.

--

In the Digital world's version of hell, the remaining demon lords watched via a portal as the last NSC ship warped away. "They'll be back," said Daemon in a bored tone. "Frankly, I wouldn't mind them being gone for a while," said Lilithmon's data, which was still in a small pendant, "by the way, when am I going to get a body again?" Daemon smirked. "I don't know, we're very busy at the moment," he said innocently. Lilithmon said, "You sure that little maniac human's not here anymore?" Daemon sighed. "Yes," he said, "We cannot risk rescuing Belphemon for now, at least he will be safe until we have a chance."

"It would be helpful if we had more on our side," said Barbamon, "Beelzemon's turned traitor, Lucemon's been destroyed, and we have no idea where Leviamon may be." "Actually, that's not true," said Daemon, "I know how to find him, albeit, in a weaker form." Barbamon glared, "He is useless to us in a weaker form." "You forget, in this world, the power of Digivolution is incarnated into a single Digimon. One boost from this 'Calumon' and Leviamon will be at full strength again," said Daemon, his eyes sparkled with wicked delight. Barbamon laughed. "The sovereigns would rip you to pieces for even trying." "That's why we have agents," said Daemon impatiently, "and if the interpretation of the current flow of the interdimensional data is correct, an opportunity to use Calumon's power will arrive very soon."

"Yes, yes, all well and good, NOW GET OFF YOUR DIGITAL BUTTS AND GET ME BY BODY BACK!!!" yelled Lilithmon, the amulet shaking as she yelled. "You just want out so you could get laid," said Barbamon in annoyance. "If by 'laid' you mean someone laying on the floor with one punch, you've got that right. You have any idea how frustrating it is to only be able to wobble?!?" "Couldn't you have made her data remnants into a silent vessel?" said Daemon, his annoyance growing even more.

**The end of Digital Conspiracy but not the end of the problem. Our heroes will return for a rematch with the demon lords in a sequel me and Cydra have planned. It might be written under his name…may not…but keep your eyes out for it.**

**Please Read & Review!**


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